Victoria: A Wild Single-Shot Ride of a Film

I saw the film “Victoria” at Fantastic Fest this fall, only because the world-of-mouth at the festival was so good. I had originally dismissed the film as just a “trick” because of it having been filmed in a continuous take, without post-production slicing from one take to another.

Having seen the Russian-made continuous take film “Russian Ark” in 2002–and having managed to stay awake for the entire thing—-I wasn’t overly excited for Sebastian Schipper’s “Victoria.” I was so wrong.

“Victoria” centers around the central protagonist of the same name, whom we first meet while she is dancing in a Berlin nightclub. She soon meets some dudes, starts hanging out with them for a bit, has to goes to work to open up the cafe where she works. Telling more would be giving away plot points, and it would be unfair to you.

Having watched much of “Victoria” with my fingers intermittently over my eyes, I can say that it’s the best adrenalin-junkie pleasing rollercoaster-ride movie out this year. It’s unconventional, but one of the strongest things I’ve ever seen. The lead actress, Laia Costa, who carries much of the picture, is amazing as the young Spanish girl who wanted to be a concert pianist, who is thrust onto another path.

The film is like riding a 138 minute roller coaster, with the slow clack clack clack up the tracks to start the show, followed with the “We just went where?” at the end.

All of done in one very long take.

And yes, I’d like to see the behind-the-scenes documentary explaining how this film was done!

Victoria has played at several major film festivals.
See it while you can in Austin!