Dunkirk (forthcoming in 2017)

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by townsend, Aug 6, 2016.

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  1. Hightops

    Hightops Forum Resident

    Location:
    Bay Area, Ca
    I'm totally pumped!!!! Can't wait to see this.
     
  2. thegage

    thegage Forum Currency Nerd

    I think you get to know the characters quite well, but in a more unusual way--by their actions, rather than through them telling you. Some people may not be used to that. The time thing is a bit distracting at first, but becomes an important part of the film's tension as you slowly figure it out.

    John K.
     
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  3. Splungeworthy

    Splungeworthy Forum Rezidentura

    I just came back from the Imax theater (my ears are still ringing!), and I will say this: I think the critics overhyped this a bit. Nolan does like to subvert traditional notions of filmic storytelling, especially as pertains to chronology, but he always finds a way to make it work, and does so ingeniously here. It sort of comes upon you slowly, where you realize you're seeing things you've already seen, but the way he gets there seems a little disorienting. Dialogue, as usual, is buried in the mix, so I can't wait for the video release and subtitles.

    Sound design in this movie, including Hans Zimmer's brain melting score, is expert, emphasized to almost absurd lengths by the Imax system. You will feel, in your gut, every bomb blast. You will be ducking from the bullet bursts. And you will be squirming in your seat waiting for the next time the Germans start strafing the stranded troops. This is a nerve wracking movie.

    I went into this thinking how this will compare to Saving Private Ryan, fair or not, and how I felt after coming out of the theater, and also with the rapturous critical acclaim it has garnered. I was gutted after SPR-spent, emotional, actually wanting to go back and experience it again. This movie, not so much. There are several striking sequences in Dunkirk, especially at the end (no spoilers here), and the acting is fine, if a bit on the understated British side. It is an incredible story, one of perseverance and national pride in the face of impossible odds. But the way the movie was structured just left me a little cold, and maybe hoping for some more emotional heft. Yes, this movie is a true story and Saving Private Ryan isn't, but I don't think I'll return to it in future years (the way I seem to with SPR).
     
  4. Monosterio

    Monosterio Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Florida
    I'm not surprised to hear that last part. Once it moved past its opening sequence, SPR familiarized you with its characters. As I said before, Dunkirk strikes me as a prolonged version of SPR's first section -- and nothing like its later parts -- so there's little or no opportunity to create the "emotional heft" some might be seeking. Besides, it seems to me Nolan wasn't after that -- I don't think that kind of stuff interests him.
     
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  5. Jack White

    Jack White Senior Member

    Location:
    Canada
    Overall I enjoyed the film very much. A few minor complaints -

    The beaches weren't crowded enough. I never got the sense that approximately 400,000 men were on or near the beach. The scenes made it look like a small fraction of that amount.

    Not enough small evacuation craft in the water.

    For most of the film no escape from the beach is possible and hope is almost gone that anyone will, and the next moment everyone's gone.

    I'm not sure the side-story about George was necessary.



    I'm deciding whether to see it again - perhaps a few rows lower at IMAX and closer to the screen.
     
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  6. Hightops

    Hightops Forum Resident

    Location:
    Bay Area, Ca
    I agree w/ your points. Also...
    Just how long can a Spitfire glide without fuel? Evidently, it can take down a Stuka & go for quite a long while.
     
  7. Squealy

    Squealy Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    Vancouver
    It's not that much like Saving Private Ryan, beyond also being a WWII movie set on a beach. There's a wider range of things happening. Dunkirk was a different kind of situation from D-Day and many events in the movie take place in the air and out at sea... and even on land, while the action is immersive, it's not the same kind of full on fighting.
     
    Last edited: Jul 22, 2017
  8. Monosterio

    Monosterio Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Florida
    I understand that. But, from everything I've read, Dunkirk never becomes a conventional war drama, like SPR does after its opening section.

    Anyway, I'll find out for myself when I see Dunkirk tomorrow. :)
     
  9. longdist01

    longdist01 Senior Member

    Location:
    Chicago, IL USA
    Saw it at 70mm Late showing, very different paced film, creeps up on you to the end.
    In a few spots the dialogue while needed was distorted to much (sound system?)

    I sensed towards the end time, maybe 12 viewers out of 78 film goers present wanted to bail out, because pace. This isn't an Action-based War film.
     
  10. townsend

    townsend Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Ridgway, CO
    A brilliant movie, one of the best of the year. Extremely well made, in a good sense.

    It is absolutely and brutally unrelenting. If it had run over two hours, I would have experienced "shell shock."

    One thing that got to me, was how IMPERSONAL all the combat and killing were. Of course, there was no hand-to-hand combat that occasionally happens in even modern warfare among soldiers. But the enemy -- the German -- were almost entirely "faceless" in this movie. Maybe they did show a German pilot's head in the cockpit (once or twice?); maybe not. That added an element of terror to it. Men on both sides were in a colossal"killing machine" known as World War II. Deliberate acts of violence abound -- they are impersonal and appear random. One moment, it looks clear; the next moment, a speck (German fighter or bomber at a distance) appears in the sky, and you start to feel dread -- knowing full well that death will reign down from the skies. . .
     
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  11. Crowes72

    Crowes72 Forum Resident

    I saw Dunkirk on IMAX a few nights ago. Fascinating film. I like Nolan in general, but I also usually have a host of problems with his films. This feels like a culmination of sorts for him in terms of the style of the movie. I see a lot of Malick in this film. Zimmer's score is relentless and drives the tension without any breaks until the very end.

    I've seen a lot of criticism about the usual lack of character depth, but I think that's the point here. Nolan forgoes individual performances for the collective whole; as if all the soldiers on beach, the pilots, and the ordinary citizens coming to help are part of one large organism. Very little dialogue throughout the entire film.

    I do think Nolan misses on the sense of scale, and it hurt the emotional impact of the film a little for me. And I suspect his manipulation of time within the three different viewpoints will trip up some. He walks a fine line with these tropes in my opinion, often leaving me with the feeling that he's just trying to be smarter than he really is. But it's an interesting approach, and when it works it's quite thrilling, but also not without it's awkward moments. The photography\cinematography was incredible.
     
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  12. townsend

    townsend Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Ridgway, CO
  13. Splungeworthy

    Splungeworthy Forum Rezidentura

    Regarding the last part of your spoiler, I couldn't agree more.
     
  14. thegage

    thegage Forum Currency Nerd

    For me this is what I mean about how character is built subtly in the film:

    At one point Rylance's character says, "“Men my age dictate this war — why should we be allowed to send our children to fight it?” He allowed George to get on the boat, in effect sending out a child to fight the war. (Also, George makes a reference about "going to war," but I can't remember exactly what he said.) When that child George is eventually a casualty, it just reinforces Rylance's determination to live up to his own words.

    Given Nolan's predilection for complicated movies, this film, apart from the time disjoint, seems a lot simpler. But to my mind it's anything but simple.

    John K.
     
    Last edited: Jul 22, 2017
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  15. thegage

    thegage Forum Currency Nerd

    Sounds like the sound mix in your IMAX theater was similar to the one I saw it in.

    A tricky thing about doing a movie set almost 80 years in the past is that modern viewers do not have the same point of reference as the characters being portrayed. One could argue that the Englishman of that time was quite reserved emotionally in normal situations. Add to that the overwhelming fact of War that tends to lead to a kind of disassociation, or emotional shutdown, and I suspect you're not going to see a lot of emoting, if the situation is portrayed authentically. That can have a distancing effect that has an impact on how audiences connect with the film. I will say that there certainly was a lot of "active acting" (if you will) during a key reveal during the last part of the film.

    John K.
     
  16. Hightops

    Hightops Forum Resident

    Location:
    Bay Area, Ca
    The Rylance character was too old to have been a veteran of WW I, but he would have been keenly aware of the absurdity & toll of that conflict.
     
  17. Splungeworthy

    Splungeworthy Forum Rezidentura

    I certainly wasn't trying to criticize the acting. It was perfectly appropriate given the circumstances the characters found themselves in.
     
  18. thegage

    thegage Forum Currency Nerd

    There were, what, 26 years between the start of WWI and Dunkirk? He could easily have been in it.

    John K.
     
  19. But how about what we're all anxious to know: How does Harry Styles acquit himself? :)
     
  20. Mr. Fernando

    Mr. Fernando Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    If we assume his actual age is his character's age, which is 57, 26 years prior brings his age to 31. He could have fought in WW1 at that age.
     
  21. jojopuppyfish

    jojopuppyfish Senior Member

    Location:
    Maryland
    Just saw it. Eveyone around me seemed to love it.
    I thought it was okay. Honestly, major films don't play well on IMAX....except for the Aerial scenes
     
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  22. JorgeGvb

    JorgeGvb Senior Member

    Location:
    Virginia Beach
    I would have to agree much of your opinion. If I were to see it again, I would like to see it with the subtitles on. The music score and realism was emotional and intense. However, the movie just left me wanting something more that never happens.
     
  23. Splungeworthy

    Splungeworthy Forum Rezidentura

    Wow. I heard he was in this. I can't for the life of me remember who he plays. I forgot Tom Hardy was in this as well, and, like in "The Dark Knight Rises", he wears a mask for almost the entire movie, until he removes it at the very end.
     
  24. thegage

    thegage Forum Currency Nerd

    Bane doesn't remove his mask in the movie. There is a moment in a flashback where his face is shown in the pit, when his scarf is pulled down, but that is pre-Bane.

    John K.
     
  25. Splungeworthy

    Splungeworthy Forum Rezidentura

    I meant in Dunkirk. Should have been more clear.
     
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