1917 is (almost) one long tracking shot. Five more movies where the director took awhile to yell “Cut!”
Touch of Evil. D: Orson Welles (1958). A three minute and twenty second shot over the opening credits as a car with a bomb in its trunk in a south border town. It introduces most of the cast and ends with an explosion. Offscreen.
Weekend. D: Jean-Luc Godard (1967). A traffic jam that suggests the collapse of society. For over seven minutes we follow the heroes as they navigate overturned vehicles, zoo animals in the street, horns continuously blaring, everybody ready to blow. And it’s only 1967.
Snake Eyes. D: Brian de Palma (1998). For twelve minutes we follow Nicolas Cage as a corrupt and connected Atlantic City cop schmoozes, collects payoffs, connects with his mistress and generally acts like the King of the World before a huge title fight. It establishes his place in this sleazy world and his joy in his life, before he uncharacteristically does the right thing and blows it all to hell.
Goodfellas. D: Martin Scorsese (1990). For three minutes, Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) and his date, Karen (Lorraine Bracco) skip the line at the Copacabana, are escorted down several halls and through the kitchen, Henry tipping everyone along the way, and into the dining room where a special table is set for them, someone sends over champagne, the camera moves and there’s …… Henny Youngman! (saying “Take my wife, please!”). Youngman is both his own punchline and final proof that it’s the journey, not the arrival.
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance). D: Aleajandro G. Inarritu (2014). Inarritu wanted the whole film to look like a single shot and for the most part he pulled it off. It’s set in and around a Broadway theater where Riggan (Michael Keaton), a former superhero actor is trying a comeback in theater. The tracking both suggests the labyrinth of so many old theaters and the claustrophobia and anxiety closing in on the movie’s star.
