Victoria

Growing up I was one of those people that didn't really care about movies, a casual watcher at best with most of my exposure to the art coming in the form of the once or twice a year trip to the theater an hour away to see a blockbuster release and the occasional viewing of a niche childhood DVD classic (Spy Kids 3D: Game Over, Bad News Bears (2005), and Kart Racer were my staples). I'm actually kinda glad I was so naive and disinterested in movies back then because that blind ignorance granted me the opportunity to experience a vast majority of the films that are universally agreed upon as amongst the best of all-time as an adult who was ready and eager to appreciate the art. Films like Fight Club, No Country For Old Men, and Inglorious Basterds were the tip of my "wait, movies fuckin' rule" iceberg and at that time I didn't understand the width of options amongst genres and subgenres or the sheer depth of amazing movies that are lie frozen underneath the surface just waiting to be uncovered. Those tip of the iceberg movies are easily accessible, super entertaining, and widely beloved masterpieces that opened the door that led me to becoming a full blown cinephile and since then I've been steadily picking my way down through the iceberg in consistent pursuit of uncovering more hidden motion picture gems and I struck diamond with Victoria.

That long winded iceberg filled analogy about my experience with movies boils down to this; well made big budget movies directed by household names rightfully get a ton praise, money, accolades, and have long term staying power amongst the general population even those that don't watch a ton of movies like myself years ago. They are awesome and pretty much everyone and their dog agrees that they're awesome and the majority of people will likely end up watching whatever film it is a bunch more times in their lives and that's where I'll start making my point. Rewatching a group of movies that you've seen a thousand times instead of picking out something new to watch is, in my opinion, lame as heeeeell. I throw in a rewatch every now and again and I love when I finally get to revisit something I haven't seen in a couple years but 95% of the time I'm finding something to throw on that I've never seen and fairly often it's something I'd never even heard of before I started searching around and it rules. I don't just throw on any random movie either, I'm actually quite picky about the quality of what I watch, I don't want to waste my time sitting through something that I think is awful so I take the time to pick out films that I genuinely believe I will really enjoy and sometimes those end up being turds too and I'll grind them out but the majority of the time its something with good ratings and reviews that I personally just didn't click with and that's another great part about movies; you're not going to like some films that everyone else likes and vice versa. Back to the original topic, there is an endless supply of small/mid budget films that are absolutely incredible and almost nobody watches them because they never throw on something new and that's a shame. Some of my favorite movies of all-time are indies with almost no budget or artsy passion projects that someone made knowing they most likely were going to lose money on it; Short Term 12, Candy, Half Nelson, and now Victoria are all 5 star rated movies on Letterboxd for me and they all made little to no money on small budgets but they're all perfect movies to me and I'd almost guarantee that anyone reading this hasn't even heard of them unless I told you to watch them. So... watch more new movies and don't sleep on a small budget, zero in on what type of movies you like and branch off from there.

Right, Victoria, finally time I talk about the movie that made me want to write this blog in the first place but its a low budget indie film so I'll just choose to believe that rant fits in here somehow. Anyways, Victoria was one of those movies that I had never even heard of until a few weeks ago, I was scrolling Instagram and Letterboxd does videos with actors, directors, producers, and sometimes normal everyday people where they ask "What are your 4 favorites?". If you're not familiar with Letterboxd everyone's profile has their 4 favorites as the first thing you see and for people that watch a ton of movies this decision can be quiet tough. Most of the people who work in the industry will throw out a couple films that I've never heard of so I'll add them to my watchlist and Victoria was one of those and I thought it was probably just a choice that had personal significance to that one person but then I saw 2 or 3 other people in later videos put it on theirs so I pushed it to the top of my watchlist and boy am I glad I did.

Victoria is a German film released in 2015 that was made on a ~$492,000 budget and it feels and looks better than a ton of movies that have many multiples of that budget. The most impressive thing about this movie and the thing that makes it so unique to itself is that the entire 2 hour 16 minute runtime is done in 1 (ONE!) shot; they only did 3 takes and the 3rd one is the entire movie. No scene cuts, no crazy impractical shots, no tertiary characters helping explain the plot, the entire process of the movie unfolds in front of your eyes and it genuinely makes all 5 characters and the story they're telling feel exceedingly real compared to other films with similar plots and structures. The film starts slow but that's intentional as it builds the viewers understanding of each persons character while simultaneously giving you nothing plot oriented that would enable viewers to figure out what's going to happen at any point throughout. Director Sebastian Schipper found the perfect balance of boring yet intriguing to keep you engaged even when it seems like nothing is going on and that's due to the oddities of each of these people and the really bizarre energy that is constantly surrounding the group. It's a subtle yet eerie weight that sits on your shoulders while you sit there wondering what the hell this movie is actually moving towards and then it snaps its fingers putting you into a trance and just takes you along for the ride until the very end.

I loved everything about this movie, I didn't even mention the incredible score that perfectly encapsulates the emotions of each moment while never feeling like its trying to ramp up the intensity of the moment itself. I will be telling people to watch this movie until the end of time and that is exactly what I love most about movies, this movie checks every box for me and I want to share that experience and associated feelings with other people. Small budget indie films can be among the greatest films of all-time and Victoria proves that. Watch more indie films and please watch Victoria I promise you'll be glad you did.