I’ve been staring at Chris Hemsworth a lot recently. Can you blame me? The dirty blonde mane of hair, the ripped muscles, the strength of spirit just pouring from his expressions, the list goes on and on. So when the Russo Brothers gave us all a chance to stare at Hemsworth in a “Oner” in Netflix’s Extraction, I think I can speak for the world when I say, we all set our eyes to stare. All jokes aside, it takes a great deal of courage and skill to pull off a “Oner”. A “Oner” is when a movie shows you a continuous shot without breaking up the shot with cut after cut. You know how most modern action movies feel chaotic and jumpy since they never stay in the same shot for more than a few seconds? A “Oner” is the opposite of that. A “Oner” takes its time, establishes the world around and its character’s purpose in said world. This use to be pretty common in the beginning of film making but as time has gone on the boldness to go for a stellar “Oner” has become less and less to the point that now audiences are awe stuck when they see one. Let’s take a long, prolonged look back at the best movies with “Oners” and check out some films that are as bold as they are great.
One of the most shocking scenes in modern cinema – that’s right I said it! What was a relatively run of the mill exciting spy action thriller, went to a whole other level when Samuel L. Jackson released all mayhem on a church in America’s bible belt to the soundtrack of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Free Bird. What follows is a 10-minute one-shot electrifying action piece, whereby Colin Firth mercilessly mows down a number of bigots in a mindless rage. It’s evocative, it’s gruesome, it’s unexpected and most importantly, it is the true stand out from the film. The decision to include this is what set Kingsman apart from being just another comic book adaptation. It showed that the director, Matthew Vaughn, was willing to obliterate the lines that he had established for his audience in terms of violence and boundaries, as well as let them know that until the end of the movie anything could happen– and he certainly delivered on that. From exploding firework heads, to one of the most controversial endings of all time, Kingsman came to play and leave everyone else in the dust. (Alice-Ginevra Micheli)
Korean Cinema is now being recognized by the general audiences due to the critical and financial success of the film Parasite (2019). Long before Bong Joon Ho’s masterpiece, Chan-wook Park created his unorthodox and groundbreaking film adaptation, Oldboy (2003). The general premise explores a man named Dae-Su, who is abducted and held captive for 15 years until being released seemingly out of nowhere. He is now on a mission to find his captor and maybe get some answers along the way for his abduction with only 5 days to do so. To go any more into the plot would ruin the overall experience of the film. Oldboy is gritty and unapologetic about showing it’s brutality. The world set up isn’t a kind and cuddly type of environment, everything appears dark and damp. They show you the madness that one goes through when being held captive for such an extended period of time. He becomes a far more hardened person in comparison to the annoying drunk he once was. For cinephiles and film lovers there is one scene that stands out among the rest. The famous one-take hallway fight scene that used no type of trickery to make it possible. Min-sik Choi who plays Dae-Su did a majority of his own stunts. The way in which this scene channels the various stages of going through a fight is remarkable. It has the perfect ebb and flows with our protagonist fighting against insurmountable odds against countless thugs. It is like something out of a video game and this vibe is even more pronounced due to the side profile in which it is shot, it feels much in tune to the side scrolling video games that I grew up playing. There is a realness and rawness to it that isn’t often seen in any film, even nowadays. Oldboy is one of many Korean Films that breaks norms with groundbreaking visual styles and outside the box storytelling that eluded western cinema for so long. (Joseph Vargas)
2019 was one of the greatest years for film and film lovers. Whether it was horror, comic book movies, dramas, thrillers, etc. there was something for everyone. One film that stands out on a technical aspect from the rest, though, is 1917. This film is done in the perspective of one long continuous shot that takes you right into the trenches of WWI. It’s thrilling, gripping, emotional, and will make your heart beat out of its chest. The thing I love about 1917 though, is that it’s the perfect demonstration of the courage of the human spirit. This film shows one ordinary soldier accomplishing the impossible and the movie does this all in what should be an impossible one shot. 1917 is a triumph of film making and is one of the best films of 2019. (Ben Davis)
I’m not going to take any time trying to sell anyone on Marvel’s Avengers. It has a legacy that speaks for itself. That said, It did something that no franchise had attempted before and only grew from here. Seeing the Avengers succeed as well as it did, tying the separate films together worked fantastically thanks to Joss Whedon and the steadfast puppet mastery of Kevin Feige. The one-shot just before the 2-hour mark is like a victory lap of awesome. The shot starts with Black Widow taking out a Chitauri speeder before following Iron-Man racing through and down to the city streets where he meets up with Captain America. Seeing Tony blast and deflect off Cap’s shield is the stuff comic book fans have been waiting for. The shot continues as Tony rockets up to the top of a skyscraper where Hawkeye is playing air defense. The shot is dynamic and has great transitions like following his arrow to the back of the head of another Chidauri speeder that crashes into a worm that Hulk and Thor and wreaking havoc before ending with Hulk impales the worm and Thor hammering for the kill. It’s certainly not the longest Oner on this list, but it has some real staying power and shows every Avenger doing their part in the greater whole, just like the film does for the franchise. I’m not saying this Oner is Marvel’s way of saying “that’s right, we just brought all these characters together perfectly like you’ve always dreamed and changed cinematic history going forward forever” but it really feels like that is the underlying message. (Evan Lucken)
When I first saw the trailer for John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein’s “Game Night,”it looked like another disposable studio comedy that was going to be dumped in theaters in the dead of winter and forgotten about after its opening weekend. How wrong I was. Not only was it a fun movie, but it was also one of the most well-executed mainstream comedies in quite some time, both in plot and technical aspects. The story follows a group of friends whose game night turns into an actual mystery when one of them ends up being kidnapped. There’s plenty of talent in the cast to spare, with the highlights being Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams, who exhibit a terrific comedic chemistry as a husband and wife who thrive on competitiveness; Billy Magnussen as the lovable idiot within the group of friends; and Jesse Plemons as Bateman and McAdams’socially awkward cop next door. The screenplay offers an entertaining narrative that never lets up, breezing you along from one thrilling, guessing-game plot point to the next. However, one of the most surprising aspects of the film is how well it’s shot. Aside from the memorable images that make certain landscapes in the film look like a game board, the best camerawork of Barry Peterson’s cinematography comes in the form of a one-take sequence where the friends are pursued around a mansion by the villain’s henchmen, who are revealed to be after a Fabergéegg. Sticking with the motif of certain real-life games figuring subtly into the plot, this sequence calls to mind Pac-Man being chased around by ghosts, heightening the prospect that mainstream comedies can still have a wealth of creativity behind their execution. (Vincent Abbatecola)
Frank from the past here to talk about a couple of amazing long shots in Shaun of The Dead. In it there is this great continuous take of Shaun walking from his flat to the convenience store. Like most long takes it is beautifully well crafted with a lot of small details that you need to pay attention to. Nothing is by accident including the places Shaun looks, what he does, how he trips and even when he scratches his own head. What makes this shot stand out is because they do it twice. They recreate the exact same shots with the same beats later on in the movie. First time is pre-z’s and the next is post-z’s. The 2nd time everything Shaun does is exactly the same, only the world around him is now changed. It’s not until you watch both shots at the exact same time that you fully appreciate everything Edgar Wright and everyone involved achieved. The 2nd time they extended the sequence even longer by showing him walk back to his flat. But that is also achieved via a hidden cut in the store. A hidden cut acts as sort of a checkpoint in case there’s a screw up during the second half. Hidden cuts are always key in long takes, but by today’s standards, these 2 shots are a masterclass in how to do it. Now don’t just take my word for it, take Past Frank’s word for it from 3 years ago where you can see exactly what I’m talking about where I break this all down with Hawkeye like precision on my YouTube Channel. (Past Frank)
Birdman or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance is one of the greatest cinematic accomplishments in recent memory. The story involves Riggan, played by Michael Keaton, who became a famous actor for playing a superhero named Birdman. Now, 20 years later he feels out of place in show business and desperate to achieve relevancy again. In order to do this, he decides to star, write, and direct a Broadway play. This movie contains several continuous shots that make the flow and pacing of the film perfect. The viewer will feel like they are watching a play instead of a movie which is perfect for the subject material. The camera angles are impeccable and each character is complicated which makes the film that much more entertaining. There truly have not been many movie experiences as complex and beautiful as Birdman. Clearly critics agree with me given that this won Best Picture in 2014. Do yourself a favor and check this film out. (Kaleb Wolters)
All my life I wanted to be a gangster….and see ambitious long takes in my movies. Scorsese delivers on showing up the gangster life as well as engrossing the audience with his impressive tracking shots. Honestly, one particular long shot really does embrace us with the gangster lifestyle. Ray Liotta (giving his most impressive and career best performance as gangster-phile Henry Hill) brings his lady to a beautiful club. This club is the world of the gangster and Hill is the Chiron to the audience as he guides us on this long walk into the underworld of crime. You see the stylish suits, the glasses of liquor, and the abundant food as we walk our way to the seats awaiting our visit. Scorsese creates one of the most vivid looks at mob life ever put to screen with Goodfellas. We see the descent of Hill as he fears the tension brought by the spitfire of Tommy Devito played with reckless abandon by Joe Pesci. DeNiro comes in as the Irish mobster James Conway who has a fiery streak of his own. Whether it is being raided by cops, having your wife find your mistress, slicing garlic with razor blades, or the utter excess of food and clothes, Goodfellas delivers everything you could want from a snappy and stylish gangster movie. Take the long walk with Henry Hill (and the camera) into the seedy underworld. (Shane Conto)
Nobody commits a murder just for the experiment of committing it. Nobody except us. Rope is a 1948 Alfred Hitchcock murder movie and it is my personal favorite Hitchcock movie. Let me give you a brief synopsis: Sociopath Brandon and his manipulated partner Phillip murder David, an up and coming young man who just graduated from Harvard, with a rope. What to do next, but throw a party where you invite the housekeeper, David’s girlfriend (practically fiancé), David’s best friend (who is his girlfriend’s ex), David’s parents, and their sociology professor. But not just that, they hide David’s dead body in a chest and serve dinner from atop it. Phillip is coerced by Brandon, but Brandon is truly evil as all of the evil touches made are from his mind. Watch this unfold for yourself, but aside from the story elements that work so perfectly, Hitchcock’s talent as a superstar director really shines here as you can see so many technical achievements in filmmaking. This is his first film shot on color, and he uses them perfectly; he brings out performances from actors that any lesser director would be more wooden; he stages the character placement in a way that makes you feel part of a party; and he displays this film as a “one-take.” Now, this movie is not a full take, but this 80-minute movie has only 10 cuts. The cuts themselves are quite obvious, but rather brief and keep the momentum and intensity. This movie works best as a one-shot because it starts and it is really hard to look away from for the next 80 minutes. So, please do yourself a favor and watch Rope, but make sure to use the bathroom, get your snacks, and pick a comfy spot before doing so. (Aaron Schweitzer)
How does a director get his audience to be fully immersed in their vision of a future dystopia? By tricking them into thinking that they never blink and make most of the shots in your film very long takes. One of the most incredible things that Alfonso Cauron was able to do with his childless dystopia of Children of Men is the ability to create inventive and immersive long takes. Whether it is a scene inside a car where the camera interacts like another person in the car or countless shots of the camera acting as a passenger in transit looking upon the tortured and warped world of the not so near future. This future is so similar to ours and that makes the experience so much more relatable as well as unnerving. The amount of detail in the world building is impressive all by itself but coupled with the technical achievements, this is a sci-fi to remember. You are in it with Clive Owens’ protagonist (one of his strongest and most affecting performances) as we hear and feel explosions, feel the blood of others (some even splashing onto the camera lens), and see the anguish of humanity. Every long take brings us closer to the action and the pain of future humanity. Cauron is a genius and this might just be his magnum opus. (Shane Conto)
Honorable Mention
Victoria
Many movies are made to appear as if they are shot entirely in one take. Oscar-Winning films like Birdman and 1917 both used clever camera and editing tricks to pull off the effect, but very few have actually attempted the near-insurmountable feat. One of the very few that have accomplished this is the 2015 German thriller titled Victoria. While it may sound unassuming at first, Victoria is one of the most miraculous films I’ve ever seen, and certainly one of the most riveting in recent memory. It’s one of the only movies that has ever left me breathless by the end, truly at a loss for words. Films that have adopted the long take format in the past usually do so to put the audience in the center of the action, or in the mind of the character. In Victoria, the camera has essentially become a sentient being; a supporting character, or perhaps, you, the audience, jumping into the screen to follow the action. The camera here is always in a state of motion, observing the characters with a profoundly natural flow and rhythm. The film achieves such a state of realism not only through its organic camera movements but in its raw performances. Much of the dialogue was improvised, as the screenplay was only 12 pages long, and it gives the film a feel as though we were watching real people experience this. The movie took 3 attempts to complete, and because of the extremely delicate nature of filming in one continuous shot, the film was nearly ruined on its final take because the actors missed their mark while driving, but fortunately they played it off and were able to continue the scene. It is in the madness and risk of experimentation that we achieve great things. Movies like Victoria are perfect examples of this. (Devan M. Meyer)