by Kath Dunham. @kathdunham.
LOS ANGELES - After months of film critics describing the Oscar-nominated feature 1917’s one-shot filming style as “groundbreaking” and “unheard of,” The Broadway Beat confirmed today that, based on multiple accounts, these critics have in fact never seen a play.
“I was just shocked when I saw the lengths they had gone to to make it look like one continuous take,” wrote New York Times film critic Alyssa McGill, who admits she has never seen or heard of live theater. “I can’t imagine the pressure the actors were under knowing that they had to nail it in just one take. It should win all the awards.”
Rolling Stone writer Lance Thule expressed a similar opinion in his review of the film, which has garnered 10 Academy Award nominations this year and won the award for Best Picture - Drama at this year’s Golden Globes.
“One take! I never even dreamed that that’d be possible,” said Thule, who must not know that that’s what a play is except without all the camera tricks to help. “This is why film is unlike any other art form - it’s always pushing the envelope.”
Local news critic Barry Flip went further in his review by praising the intense, thorough preparation the actors must have gone through prior to filming.
“Actors rehearsing for hours and hours so that they’re able to speak and move correctly every time is just unheard of,” said Flip, whose mind would certainly explode if someone told him what a play is. “At least there’s not a large group of strangers who paid money to watch and are expecting perfection each and every time - that would certainly be too much.”
At press time, the same critics were still losing their minds over the fact that actors sang live in the Les Miserables movie.
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