dromasca
Sometimes, in the middle of the desert, one encounters a green, luxurious, exuberant oasis, full of life and beauty. This is exactly my feeling after having viewed 'Victoria' in this summer cinematographic season which seems drier and duller and dummer than any other that I remember. After so many brainless action movies, and huge stars playing flat roles in boring comedies, here comes a film which is a wonderful combination of action and human feelings, of wonderful acting and cinematographic excellencies. Some of the reviews that I have read use the word 'masterpiece'. This is far from being an exaggeration.'Victoria', co-written and director by Sebastian Schipper who is better known as an actor, takes places in real-time, late at night and early in the morning, in Berlin, the German capital, in 2015. The feeling of reality is brightly transmitted to viewers by making the film with one shot, more than two hours of cinema filmed with hand-held camera, all the time close to the heroes of the film. Their lives change forever during these 140 minutes. It visibly took a huge effort to prepare the whole filming which takes us in different places, streets, shops, night clubs, building and roofs in Berlin. The result is spectacular.It's a movie about loneliness, friendship and love, about youth, searching a meaning in life and failing. The heroes are a young Spanish girl, ex-musician, living in the cosmopolitan capital of Germany without speaking German who meets a group of fringe youth from East Berlin. As the action develops the characters will know each other, will fall in love, will get into trouble, and their destinies will change. Acting is also superb, with the Spanish actress Laia Costa in the lead role, and the German actors Frederick Lau and Franz Rogowski. Far from being just a gimmick, the technical achievement of this film is fully justified and fits well the story and the action. Berlin at the hours of deep night and uncertain dawn looks more interesting than I have ever seen it since 'Der Himmel über Berlin'. This is German cinema at its best.
DigitalDude1
Wow took me almost three years to stumble onto this morsel. I googled 'best movies in Netflix you haben't seen'. It has been a very long time since I saw a truly remarkable movie. This is a must see and officially one of the greatest movie experiences in my time.Those reviewers who think Victoria's choice to go hang with these four strange dudes was unbelievable completely missed the essence of who she is. I mean I thought the same thing at first so I get that.But here it is...Victoria starts the film alone at a club w/ no friends. She hits on the bartender. No luck there so she takes her shot and leaves. She claims she has no friends. She is clearly lonely. You see it pour out if her when she plays the piano and breaks down conveying her dedication to her craft wasn't without sacrifice: a sensen of community.And so she begins the film alone, finds a taste of community she never really had with these four dudes... and ends up alone.Aside from this being a monumental technical avhievement, it is quite simply the reason I fell in love with movies in the first place. It's very difficult to 'wow' me these days so congrats to these fine film makers.Enjoy!
tony-67700
I saw someone had described it as a masterpiece and I wouldn't disagree. I watched it with subtitles but it isn't an issue as it would work in silence in terms of understanding the story line. It begins by making you fear the worst could happen to the young girl who meets a seemingly motley group of men late at night. However it takes a different course and moves at an incredible pace It is shot in a way so that it appears to be one continuous shot from start to finish. This in itself is quite a feat. The unpredictability of the film and the tangents it shoots off at keep you on the edge of your seat. The characterizations are strong and you care what happens to them which also matters so much in any film. The story line has been covered by others I am sure and its probably best not to know too much about that aspect or you could undermine the tension created. If only there were more films of this caliber rather than Hollywood trash like La La Land, which is badly made, crafted and predictable- all characteristics not shared by this film!
