Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
I’ve been pretty vocal about my ambivalence of Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), which picked up four Academy Awards last month. Of its wins, I will concede that Emmanuel Lubezki’s long-deserved win for Best Cinematography. Not only does Lubezki depict the goings-on on and back stage in a New York theater seem at times both claustrophobic and expansive, he expertly employs an oft-used gimmick: the single, continuous take.
Now, Birdman, like many other films that appear to play out in real time and in one single shot, was edited to appear as if it wasn’t filmed over a period of several days. After all, a film this complex (and with an expansive time setting) could never be filmed in such a manner. That doesn’t mean it Lubezki wasn’t successful, however, as it is masterfully shot (and edited). Birdman, of course, isn’t the first to use this gimmick. Below are five other films that also take place in real time and with a single shot — some of which even managed to stay true to the conceit and were shot in one continuous take.
'Rope' (1948)
At the beginning of Alfred Hitchcock’s thriller, two young men strangle their former classmate with a rope and put his body in a trunk. For the rest of the film, which was edited to appear as if it were shot with one take and unfolds in real-time, the two murderers host a dinner party attended by the family and friends of their dead friends (including his fiancée). It’s a great experiment in filmmaking (even if it is one of Hitchcock’s least-favorite of his movies), with its technical wizardry only adding to the palpable tension that builds throughout the film. [Where to stream Rope]
'Timecode' (2000)
Mike Figgis’ experimental film is not just an essential movie that features a multi-narrative plot, it’s also an unparalleled single-take film. It doesn’t just commit to the one-take conceit — it gives you four one-take films, edited together in four quadrants on screen, with all four plots lining up together in one multi-narrative story. Though the film isn’t perfect, it’s a technical feat that hasn’t been employed on such a large scale since. [Where to stream Timecode]
'Russian Ark' (2002)
Filmed in one shot in the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg, Russian Ark employs not just a dazzling filmmaking technique to examine the splendor of the historical site’s history. The film depicts 300 years’ worth of activity in the Winter Palace, with historical figures like Peter the Great shuffling through the halls, Nicholas I entertaining a state visit from the Shah of Iran, the daily lives of Nicholas II’s children, and the siege of Leningrad during World War II. [Where to stream Russian Ark]
'PVC-1' (2007)
This Colombian film, which was shot in a true single take, is an intense thriller in which a violent gang kidnap a middle-class woman and hold her hostage with a makeshift bomb attached to her neck. It’s a truly harrowing nail-biter, made even more extreme by its single take, brief running time, and no-holds-barred intensity. [Where to stream PVC-1]
'Silent House' (2011)
A remake of the Uruguayan film La casa muda, Silent Hill uses the real-time, single-shot conceit of Hitchock’s Rope and heightens it in terms of creating an incredibly spooky and unsettling film. Although its single-shot motif is, like in Rope, cinematic trickery, the Elizabeth Olsen-starring thriller begins with a simple home invasion and eventually turns into a paranoid horror film that’ll leave you shaking by the final reel. [Where to stream Silent House]
