Jan 24

Jan 24 Dunkirk

Oh my God, Dunkirk! Why did it take me so long to see Dunkirk?

Yesterday I took advantage of a cold, raggedy-ass, rainy day and curled up with Callie Cat and I watched Dunkirk (Nolan 2017). And... I loved it. I really loved it. Surprising, since I am not a card carrying member of the Christopher Nolan fan club. Inception (2010) made my head hurt. Interstellar (2014) made me angry — but Dunkirk, (a page of history that has always fascinated me) Dunkirk is a deftly drawn, adroit portrait, lovingly painted on a palette of pain and beauty.

This film is cinematically stunning, but this film is also hard. Very, very hard. And this film is spare, surely one of the shortest scripts in recent years with whole minutes devoid of dialogue. There is no spoon feeding here, anything but 100% engagement will leave you, the audience member, adrift. You have to work to follow Nolan's signature narrative-bending which here, works exceptionally well. Hans Zimmer's haunting, pulsing score, ticking like a metronome, provides the musical foundation throughout, and is fraught with tension and edginess, layering on exquisite, palpable suspense. The combination of visuals and music is nothing short of masterful; a synergistic assault to the senses.

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Nolan uses top-notch talent to populate this gorgeous tableaux. No war movie should be this pretty. Mark Rylance, a favorite, is wonderful here. But the real surprises are new comers Fionn Whitehead and Tom Glynn-Carney, with young careworn expressions that manage to look boyish and war weary all at the same time. Dunkirk is as much a testament to ordinary heroes as it is to ordinary faces. Nolan's lingering camera remains just long and close enough to wring out the range of complex emotions; these are balanced against sweeping wide shots— the human enormity of their plight dramatically and expertly portrayed.

Tom Hardy's Farrier.  A perfect hero. — Tom Hardy's Farrier. A perfect hero.

Nolan expertly interweaves three subplots against an elemental background of sea, of air and in the final scene, of fire. Hard and bright, it is a beautifully fitting end.

Epilogue: After the movie ended, the final credits rolling, I checked my phone and there was a News Alert: Christopher Nolan had been nominated for an Oscar for Best Director. Now that's a Hollywood ending :)