7/29/16 - Dunkirk (2017) - 8+/10

A harrowing cinematic experience. It is pulse pounding while still feeling the weight of each minor action within the total. It is a cinematic whirlwind, devastating and changing all that it touches with a style, grace, forlorn, and hope. Truly a marvelous film spectacle that excels technically while allowing the sweet desperate breaths of the actors & their characters to FEEL.

The acting is never underwhelming, sometimes even excelling, but this is a film driven more by the wide range of elements that magically make s a film something more than video taped talking heads. The oppression of the senses (the unrelenting bombast of the sound design and the occultation of detail from the lighting/palette) reinforced the intensity and ever presence of the conflicts.It had a haunting and driving score.Violins and horns of doom and glory. Probably best of the year, sound scheme wise. The muted blues, greens, and browns permeated the fabric of the film, injecting a natural dourness and resigned ambience. The only brightness permitted was the freedom of flying on the open sea and the brightness of the final return train. Those elements kept your mentality within the grim muck of reality.

Brilliant editing and plot construction, mixing up the chronology. It helped to maximize the intrigue despite keeping the story centered on few limited main characters. Smart film-making, showing us what we have seen out of sequence and allowing those further interpretations and perspectives on events to  re-enforce the tragedies and spice up the drama. Complicate by simplicity, all while looking spectacular.

A spartan production that spoke but a word: horror. That is until the end: triumph by survival.  This is a film of impassioned terror and sorrowful nigh-capitulation - the emptiness of war, in mind, soul, empathy, and faith. "The real enemy is war" is what sprang to mind, never seeing a German nor equating them to any real force, it is just the all consuming and finality producing destruction of conflict that breaks men and murders humanity. This is about surviving the forever pit of world war and the glimmer of light that shines on the blade of courage & hope. 

A tremendous drama and engagement despite not knowing the characters' names or detailed stories. Truly a rare feet, to bring us so deeply into each tense raise of the eyes or gasping breath of survival and retreat without “following” almost anyone in significant depth. There is a subtlety that wraps every component of the film, while expressing a boisterous grandiosity of scope and cinematic stature. This was a marvel that moves, sings, and sits with you.