Film Challenge Week 10: A German film
Film: Victoria (2015)
Genre: Thriller/Crime
Watched on: Kanopy
This week's film is a great example of why I embarked on this challenge. Although Victoria was on my watchlist, I didn't feel compelled to watch it on my own initiative. You know how they say buying books and reading books are two separate hobbies? Watching films and saving films to my watchlist are two separate hobbies to me.
When tasked to pick a German film, nothing came to mind.
I don't think I've ever watched a German film before, but memory is an untrustworthy source. During preliminary research, Run Lola Run (1998) appeared most frequently, but I eventually settled on Victoria, as it was readily available on Kanopy.
The film is about a barista from Spain named Victoria who encounters a group of random guys on the street after a night of clubbing. Perhaps she's lonely or the YOLO/fuck around and find out type; she chooses to hang out with them as they roam the streets of Berlin under the cover of the night. One of the guys gets called up for a favor from a man who protected him in prison, and things spiral out of control from there.
A fun fact about the film is that it was recorded entirely in one take. A large part of the dialogue was improvised as the initial screenplay was only 12 pages long.
I didn't know that going into the movie, but found it absolutely compelling the way it was shot. The feeling is akin to tagging along with the group as they get up to no good. We're in the elevator with them. We're in the car as they decide to take on a ridiculous task. We feel the anxieties, the fear, the sadness.
The film took a while to get to the juicy bit, roughly around the 45-minute mark is when things ramp up. However, the setup is important as there was always the underlying tension that shit is about to hit the fan. The beginning meanders but adds to the feeling of realism, as you learn more about the characters – who they are as people, how they're connected, and why they make the choices they do. For the lack of a script, I would say the actors did a great job of improvising. The awkwardness and repetitiveness of things felt very real to me.
Victoria was only meant to be shot 3 times. The last take that ended up being the final cut was successfully shot between 4:30 AM to 7:00 AM, which honestly astounds me. We witness the night sky turn into sunlight as they navigate the streets of Berlin to escape trouble. It's beautiful.
I do enjoy films that unfold over a single night, where the characters have to get themselves out of a hole that they dug themselves. It's stressful, but tons of fun.
Personally, the pacing throws me off, but in the hands of the Safdie brothers? This would have been a hit. It has the essence of Good Time (2017), without being too stressful. Uncut Gems is a film that lives in my head rent-free, but will I watch it again? Probably not because I caught myself holding my breath one too many times watching it.
Victoria has the potential to be a 5-star film, but there were so many moments in the film where Victoria made decisions that I couldn't fathom as a woman who has lived in a new city. I know that's the point, if she didn't hang out with them, we wouldn't have the mess, but for what it is, I gave it 3 stars.
