This looks like an essential cinema date.
Eclectic is how you would describe Sam Mendes' career as a filmmaker.
After excelling in theatre, the director grabbed the world's attention when his debut film, American Beauty, picked up five Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director.
Welcome to Hollywood, indeed.
Since then, the talented filmmaker has dabbled in different genres with Road to Perdition (gangster), Jarhead (war), Away We Go (dramedy), Revolutionary Road (drama) and his most recent work in the Bond franchise with Spectre and Skyfall.
Mendes is returning to the gritty and dirty world of war in his latest film, 1917, but what makes it stand out from the other films in that particular genre is the way in which it's shot.
Essentially, the film is shot in one continuous take as the camera follows two young British soldiers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ys_BZXi02yQ
Clip via Entertainment One UK
At the height of the First World War, Schofield (Captain Fantastic's George MacKay) and Blake (Game of Thrones' Dean-Charles Chapman) are given a seemingly impossible mission. In a race against time, they must cross enemy territory and deliver a message that will stop a deadly attack on hundreds of soldiers, Blake's own brother among them.
At this time of year, film critics and experts are usually confident about the films that will be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. Well, it appears that 1917 has now gatecrashed the party because critics have absolutely fallen in love with Mendes' daring tale.
Here's what they've been saying.
The Guardian - "Sam Mendes's 1917 is an amazingly audacious film; as exciting as a heist movie, disturbing as a sci-fi nightmare."
Vanity Fair - "It's a staggering piece of filmmaking, admirable both for its complexity and its control."
The Hollywood Reporter - "This is a protean display of virtuoso filmmaking, one that film aesthetes will wallow in but that even ordinary audiences will note and appreciate."
Variety - "Astonishing as his filmmaking can be at times, it's Mendes' attention to character, more than the technique, that makes "1917" one of 2019's most impressive cinematic achievements."
Entertainment Weekly - "Legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins (No Country for Old Men, Fargo, Blade Runner 2049) effectively drops the viewer in the center of the story and compels them to stay there, fully immersed in every muddy step, hunger pang, and rifle click."
Nerd Reactor - "What Steven Spielberg has done with Saving Private Ryan and WWII films, Sam Mendes has done for WWI films."
1917 is set for release in Ireland on 10 January.
Take a look at what's in store.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqNYrYUiMfg
Clip via Universal Pictures 
