These Movies Will Shock For Being Made In Just One Shot

It might seem like an impossible feat, but there are a few movies out there that are entirely filmed as one long take or consist of really well-edited scenes to give off the illusion that the movie was done as a continuous one-shot take. And yes, some of the films explored below will be very experimental and strange.

10

Silent House

Silent House is an American remake of the 2010 Uruguayan horror movie La Casa Muda by Gustavo Hernández, done entirely as one 88-minute-long take. However, the American version cheated a little bit by editing several long takes in a way that achieved the same one-shot effect.

Despite the negative reviews, Silent House has one of Elizabeth Olsen’s best performances and excels at being a disturbing and atmospheric psychological horror movie that goes in unpredictable directions and offers a worthwhile twist. Set in the singular location of a home that Olsen’s character is fixing up with her dad and uncle to sell, dark family secrets get uncovered, and not everything is as it seems.

9

Timecode

Timecode is a very experimental one-shot movie and probably something you wouldn’t even think could be made. Taking the split-screen technique in movies and TV shows for when multiple characters speak to each other, Timecode displays four panels to show four different characters’ storylines simultaneously playing out in real time.

You follow Salma Hayek’s Rose, an actress in a lesbian relationship, risking it all to cheat with Stellan Skarsgård’s Alex Green to be cast in his new film. It’s directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Mike Figgis, who also made Leaving Las Vegas with Nicolas Cage, so you know the performances in Timecode will be enough to sell you on this wildly unique adventure around a fictional Hollywood production.

8

Blind Spot (Blindsone)

It’s always great to see when a piece of media tackles mental health the right way, like the 2018 Norwegian film, Blindsone, or Blind Spot. Despite its vague plot, it really helps draw attention to the issue of suicide and parents not being aware of what’s going on in their children’s lives, resulting in an unspeakable tragedy.

Blindsone follows Marie, whose daughter, Thea, attempts suicide by jumping from her bedroom window on what seemed like an ordinary night. This leaves Thea fighting for her life in the hospital, and Marie to pick up the pieces of what drove her to it. By framing everything as one continuous take, you feel as though you’re personally going through this painful ordeal.

7

Rope

The unparalleled master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, got the idea for a one-shot all the way back in 1948 for his film Rope. While not entirely shot in one take, Hitchcock got away with the feeling that it was by filming Rope in 10 long takes and stitching them together through some masterful editing by Oscar-nominated editor William H. Ziegler.

Rope is based on the 1929 play written by Patrick Hamilton, and tells a disturbing story of two men who believe they’ll get away with the ‘perfect’ murder of their former classmate, whom they strangled with a rope, but their former teacher soon starts to suspect them. If you’ve enjoyed Hitchcock’s other masterful thrillers, then you should certainly watch Rope.

6

Russian Ark

Russian Ark comes from director Alexander Sokurov, who is giving you an original and wild spin on Russian history. It sees a narrator traveling through the royal Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, which became the Hermitage Museum, and is joined by Sergey Dreyden’s ‘The European’ character (made to resemble Marquis de Custine).

The palace now becomes somewhat like the Overlook Hotel in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, revealing all the ghosts that inhabit the grounds, including important historical figures like Catherine the Great, Peter the Great, and the final Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II. It’s quite an odyssey into Russian culture and history, with every room of the palace presenting new periods, and all 87 minutes achieved as a single take.

5

Birdman Or (The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance)

Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s Birdman was also the unexpected winner of Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Cinematography at the Academy Awards. Despite the title making it sound like Michael Keaton’s new superhero movie, it’s really a study of his character, Riggan Thomson, a washed-up actor known for playing the superhero Birdman and now trying to redeem his image.

The film’s surreal and psychological story perhaps speaks to real-life personal crises that superhero actors may face. The entire movie is carefully stitched togehter to create the feel of a one-shot of Riggan going through the motions of perfecting his character in the new Broadway play he’s also directing, hoping to overcome Birdman, who manifests and taunts him throughout the movie.

4

Victoria

Believe it or not, the nearly two-and-a-half-hour-long German-made film Victoria was all done in one continuous shot. Typically, films done in a single take don’t run that long, as you can understand the challenges, but that’s also a strong testament to the hard work of the actors to keep up with the demands of the film’s vision.

Victoria follows the story of a Spanish woman living in Berlin who meets a band of three German criminals at a nightclub, and they soon rope her into participating in their criminal activities. If you’re looking for an immersive crime thriller to the tune of Good Time and the non-linear and experimental Run Lola Run, Sebastian Schipper’s Victoria is precisely it.

Director Sebastian Schipper actually starred in the role of Mike in Tom Tykwer’s Run Lola Run.

3

Utøya: July 22

Utøya: July 22 tells the harrowing true survival story of a politically motivated mass shooting carried out in Norway’s Utøya island summer camp on July 22, 2011, one of two major domestic terrorist attacks to occur on that day. The entire film being done in one continuous take puts you in the bone-chilling chaos, dread, and uncertainty that the victims faced and shows the horrors of mass shootings.

It follows a fictional camper named Kaja, who’s trying to reunite with her sister as the brutal massacre ensues. Making a film around such a heavy, sensitive real-life tragedy in which 77 people were killed is no easy task, but, like Denis Villeneuve’s Polytechnique, the director handles it with care.

2

1917

Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes returned to the war movie genre with 1917. 1917 was a remarkable cinematic feat filmed in two continuous takes, carefully edited to hide it as one immersive shot, with Mendes’ vision once again aided by the legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins, who won his second Oscar for the film.

1917 focuses on the story of two brothers on the battlefield during WW1, one of whom, Corporal Thomas Blake, is sent with his partner, William Schofield, on a time-sensitive mission to deliver a letter to stop a planned assault that would put Thomas’ brother in jeopardy, along with 1,600 soldiers. The two men are met with obstacle after obstacle, and it’s a harrowing and nail-biting journey.

In 1917, you also have a Game of Thrones reunion in the cast with Dean Charles-Chapman (Tommen Baratheon) and Richard Madden (Robb Stark).

1

Boiling Point

This conversation started with Adolescence, and it ends with the same people behind Adolescence. Before their work on the hit Netflix series, co-creator and star Stephen Graham and series director Philip Barantini previously worked together on Boiling Point, an hour-and-a-half-long movie all shot in one take (and boasting the same RT score of 99 percent).

If you like Hulu’s The Bear, just imagine the premise and stressful environment of a restaurant kitchen made even more relentless here. It has non-stop, effective dialogue and tension during a busy and pressure-filled night at a restaurant, and Stephen Graham’s performance here once again shows how he’s one of the most underrated actors.