Victoria

(BE2CAN, Lucerna) A very intensive experience, likeable characters, a high degree of credibility and form that leaves you flabbergasted. For me, by far the best of this year’s Be2Can: it wasn’t too brooding, didn’t have any snobbish answer to existential questions, it even had a plot! And it got an applause, wow! (18/10/2015)

"I'm reluctant to rate it with the hackneyed phrase of "form overshadowed content", though it's pretty much the best way to describe it. In any case, the chosen format "in real time" is bold and ambitious, everything is in constant motion, it is made as one uninterrupted shot and through several different moods and genres it can be undeniably engaging, intense and as “Mann-style" captivating in many scenes as anything else. However, when something does happen (and it does more than it is appropriate), then the chosen form is on the contrary the cause of complete alienation and total exclusion from the movie, when you get so bored that you start noticing the smallest technical and production aspects, how they did a sloppy job in some scenes, and you will not pay that much attention to what is (not) happening on the screen. It's just the whole footage follows the sinusoid curve, for some time it is great, while some time it is out of place. Yet at the end of the day, what is the worst thing about this movie is a way too long, unjustified footage, especially the opening hour. As a result, I would be much more interested in watching a documentary showing how this movie was created including its pitfalls rather than watching the movie itself. Still, great job! We cannot deny that it is something that no one has ever tried before in such a scale. And more importantly, this movie is rather a success than a failure. (07/10/2015)

The film definitely has a good pace and the characters are quite intense, plus it develops maybe a little differently than you expect at first glance. It's a ride, almost in real time, with an interesting camera and interesting editing. However, it didn't manage to engage me in a way that I would outright admire the film. (15/06/2017)

Film as a performance and it's up to you how you take the ending. Unlike the others, I am instead convinced that the one-take method here is closely intertwined with the content, which simply wouldn't work without it. The genius loci of early Berlin, where anything goes, plays one of the main roles here; those who have ever drunkenly and drugged their way through the morning big city will particularly appreciate the immediacy of the first half of the film, which otherwise functions as a notoriously overwrought introduction to the narrative and characters. In a clever move, I find that the non-native speakers communicate with each other in broken English, which paradoxically simplifies their communication with the viewer, which is always limited to cutely futile bare sentences and not burdened with superstructure. Which can generally be applied to the whole film. The problem, paradoxically, arises once the plot gets going, when many imbecilic decisions can no longer be excused by adrenaline, alcohol, and drugs, but instead increase in intensity and, thanks to a narrative in real time, we drink in their consequences throughout. The uncomfortable tension that otherwise makes the whole film a veritable festival of viewer discomfort is thus transformed into a relentless facepalm and gnashing of teeth, as the one-take method is now becoming ossified and continues to lack formal attraction. It's only there, and it's only for one take. Nothing more (nothing less). P.S. For a woman who unsuccessfully went to pee at the beginning of the film, Victoria ended up making it through the next two and a half hours just fine. I had always suspected during my school days that girls go to the bathroom partly out of boredom. (21/02/2016)

The amazing dynamic and confident direction by Sebastian Schipper can sure be felt in this movie. When the film starts with the opening scene in the dance club, I was absolutely satisfied. It’s an exact description of the Berlin club scene including music that fits the situation. It’s a small thing, but I really care about the way electronic music is depicted in movies. The thing is that filmmakers often include illogical stuff in their dance club scenes and in that case any semblance of realism is immediately lost for me. Anyways, as much as I liked the music (not only the electronic music in the club, the whole soundtrack is pretty dope), the protagonist Victoria ruined the whole thing. I mean Laia Costa’s portrayal of the character is pretty believable, but you be the judges of this. Victoria is a young and talented girl who has been working as a waitress in Berlin for a couple of months. She lives day to day, she doesn’t have to worry about work too much, she just wants to have fun. She goes clubbing to this joint where all of the sudden she meets a group of people who at first made me think that they were going to drag her somewhere over to the Berlin Wall, rape her and discard her body on a pile of garbage. I mean some girls can be pretty naïve and dance club girls tend to be the most naïve of them all. But she manages to keep up with them. She enjoys an interesting night with them, finds out a couple of personal things about them – it would have messed me up to find out what she did… well and then they rope her into a robbery that they only suggest indirectly. But since she is a young and bored European chick, she decides to help these guys that she has only known for like three hours. The whole thing is so incredibly naïve that I don’t know where to start. But thanks to the phenomenal direction, I give the flick three stars. I would’ve given four, but only if Victoria wasn’t as dumb as a box of rocks. (20/01/2019)