Review of Victoria (2015) by Tor M — 15 Oct 2016

The scary part about looking forward to films is that the chances for disappointment are big. This one filled my expectations. And topped them. By miles.

Meet Victoria. She is a Spanien in Berlin. She has no friends there, since she just settled. She's working at a small cafe and her planned stay is for three months or so. This is no reason for not having fun, so as the opening scene fades out - after an epileptic-fest filled moment with bass and smoke in a dirty club, we meet our friend taking shots all by herself. She is so lonely in fact, that she ask the bartender to join her on a shot. Soon she is about to leave, but she hooks up with a gang of guys on her way out. We bond pretty nicely with the small crew. I say "we" since it really does feel that we actually take place in this film. We are Victorias invisible friend. We wander into the dark summer night. We laugh, we smoke, we drink. This friendly, still slightly unsettling minutes, is slowly turning into something way heavier. We include ourselves in the actions - they are our only friends in the city right?

Shot in real time, in one magnificent take - pure cinematic excellence. I've seen it been done before. "Russian Ark" did it 13 years ago. That film was very impressive, but it lacked inclution of the viewer. Often improvised lines from the actors, that deliver fantastic performances by the way, makes it very real. This hypnotic-fest made me stick to the screen. I simply couldn't let my eyes go away from it. The location changes are perfectly transitioned.

The film got such a great story, solid performances, originality, tempo shifts, stand out scenes, tension, emotion and pace that most films eager to have. It works so incredibly well that I could not shake the film out of my head for weeks. I was left trembling, with both tears and excitement. The cinematography is so swell that I almost can't believe it and I got nothing but praise for this gem. I felt it dragged a bit, but I didn't want it to end a the same time. That's the only little thing here, it could have been 20 minutes shorter. Mostly because I needed a brake - I felt exhausted.

Hands down - this was the best film of 2015 for me.

9.5 out of 10 double cacaos.