[YMS] So, I watched 'Victoria' at Toronto Film Fest and I liked it enough to see it again at Vancouver Film Fest.
But that doesn't stop me from having mixed feelings about it.
For those of you who don't know, 'Victoria' is a German heist movie filmed all in one take -
quite the impressive selling point if you ask me. Credit where credit is due, this film is nothing
short of an achievement. The level of planning, timing, and coordination
that it took to make this one-shot movie is absolutely awe-inspiring.
There were several shots in which the camera was behind a ledge, and when the camera moves up to
see what's behind the ledge, in the background, we see an action taking place at that exact moment.
It's moments like those that really show that talent involved in making this film.
Now, although this ambitious single-take selling point is extremely impressive, it is just one aspect of the film.
And as much as I loved and enjoyed the movie, there were a few aspects that were kind of lacking -
one of those aspects being post-production audio. The film had a good soundtrack, and
for the most part I didn't mind the extra music being there. But in one scene, instead of the
music accompanying the sounds in the film, it literally replaced them.
All of a sudden, at a very unfitting moment, the film decided that what the characters
were saying wasn't really important. It kind of seemed like the music was only there as a cover-up.
Maybe one of the actors flubbed their lines, maybe they couldn't fit the mic guy in the elevator;
it just seemed really weird and out of place for the characters' voices to suddenly be muted.
Closer to the middle of the movie, we hear this inexplicable post-production nose-breathing sound.
It happens three times in the span of less than fifteen minutes and then never happens again the entire movie.
The main character's in a vehicle and all the sudden we can hear this really loud...
[Adam heavily breathes in and out...]
My initial thought was, "Is that the cameraman?", followed by, "Oh, maybe there's someone in there with her."
Then she gets out of the vehicle, and a few minutes later the same thing happens again.
It happens when the camera moves closer to her face and then stops when it moves away -
At which point I think, "Oh, it's just a really bad foley to accentuate how intense this is for her."
But then the third time it happens, the camera's nowhere near her and she shouldn't reasonably be making those noises.
It's confusing, distracting, unfitting, and completely unnecessary,
And all it would have taken to fix it would be to just not add it into the movie.
Later there's a sleeping baby in a crib. Later on, the camera's not looking at the baby and we hear it
screaming and crying; and within seconds, as the camera looks back towards the baby, it is sleeping again,
making it obvious that it was just a poorly done sound effect.
Again, something that easily could have been fixed by just not adding it into the movie.
And last but not least, the absolute worst culprit of post-production audio cheating was the piano scene.
Now, when I saw the film's trailer, it became pretty clear what the marketing strategy was.
Much like 'Boyhood' had its own marketing gimmick, this film sold itself on the idea
that there's lots of complicated action taking place all in one shot.
With the short clip of her playing piano in the trailer, it left me thinking one thing:
if what she winds up playing is actually impressive and complicated, then that'll add a lot to the movie.
I mean, if it takes a certain level of coordination and you fuck it up, then you have to start the whole movie over.
So this was a scene that I was particularly looking forward to.
And unfortunately it is some of the worst fake piano playing ever.
You realize that you actually need to press down on the keys for it to make noise, right?
[Piano; dynamics quick and loud]
[YMS] This scene clearly only exists to impress the audience by having us think that she's actually playing,
so having it cheated this poorly is kind of disappointing. And the way
that this scene pretends to be doing something impressive is just misleading and dishonest.
Another issue that I had with this movie is that these are the stupidest characters ever of all time.
Not going to spoil anything, but there are moments in this film where the characters are so stupid
that they become unrelatable. And then if something bad happens to them, all I can think is,
"Well, what did you think would happen?" Still, for the most part, this was a very entertaining and well executed movie.
Every single performance on screen was absolutely fantastic, and that, combined with the pressure
of not really wanting to fuck up your lines, had me impressed, to say the least.
Yes, it's flawed. But I think its achievements outweigh those flaws, so I would recommend
checking this one out and seeing for yourself. And I'm giving this one a seven out of ten.
Hey guys, here's an update. First off, I'm absolutely screwed; my landlord gave us notice
and we have to be out of the place by November 30, only reason being that the lease has ended, and now
the property owner wants the place back for personal reasons.
I did not see this coming. I'm scrambling now to find a place to live, and it is very stressful
and kind of a fucking nightmare. I was supposed to check out a place today and apparently somebody
paid the deposit on it like five hours ago. It was in a good location, too.
So far, every single place that I've been looking for - every single possible lead to a place that
would have decent transit that's affordable - has turned out to be taken by somebody else.
And I don't know what I'm going to do, but right now all of my time is being spent house hunting,
which really fucking sucks because I'm way behind on everything I should be doing on this channel.
And it's a nightmare. This is also conveniently happening during what is already the busiest month of my life;
I have a really bad habit of trying to fit in way too many things at once in my schedule,
and leaving myself barely enough time to get things done. I tried to get my 'Unfriended' review out
before Toronto Film Fest but that didn't happen; and then, because Toronto Film Fest started,
then it's like, "Okay, now I got to focus on these things because these are movies that are in theatres.
What's the point of seeing them at a Film Fest and trying to cover them if you're going to wait
until everybody else can them in theatres anyway." This is supposed to be advanced coverage, so I was
trying to get those Quickies out in between the movies that I was doing at Toronto Film Fest.
And then Vancouver Film Fest happened, and that just ended less than a week ago, and now I'm literally
just working on this 'Victoria' review right now. There's way too many other reviews that I would
like to get done, but now I'm struggling to figure out how the fuck I'm going to get these done.
Soooooo we're all going to have to be really fucking patient. And I hate this shit.
I really, really, really fucking hate it. Also, starting tomorrow, I'm going to be in Los Angeles
for a few days. There are some podcasts that are having me on as a special guest. These are shows that I believe
quite a few of you already watch. I will be posting about these on Facebook and Twitter.
This was scheduled many months ago, so if I had known that I would be house hunting this month,
then I might have rescheduled it for a different time; however, everything's booked, and I'm committing to it,
and I'm going to try and enjoy myself as much as I can despite probably going to be on my
computer, house hunting for a lot of it anyway. I will also be trying to edit shit as much as I can
while I'm there. I don't know how I'm going to do all this, I'm going to try as best as I can;
and that's all I really wanted to communicate, is that I'm trying as hard as I can,
and I don't know what I'm going to do. Also, Canadians, Monday October 19, this is a very important Federal election.
Go vote! If your hours of work do not allow for three consecutive hours to vote, your employer
must give you paid time off. You have no excuse not to vote.
Please vote. Go do it - for my sake. Vote. Do you feel like your vote is being split -
because of our first pass the post system? Go to strategicvoting.ca and it will give you advice on
how to strategically vote. Anyway, just wanted to give an update to let you guys know that I'm being
hit with a tonne of bricks! So, as much as I'm trying to get things back on track,
it might take a little while longer than previously anticipated. First thing's first, find a place to
fucking live. And then, I'll be back on track with the rest of this shit later.
Thank you guys for understanding, and I'll try to keep you guys as updated as I can. Thank you.