Top Ten Long Take Sequences in cinema

   

After having tried my own steadicam sequence in a zombie film earlier this year I wanted to look at some of the more elaborate sequences that feature no cuts just one, long camera shot.

 10.   Goodfellas (1990) One of the best uses of the extended take where we follow Ray Liotta and his wife through the busy downstairs of a restaurant  right to the front of the stage, bumping into various ‘associates ’ along the way. 

9. Rope (1948) the film that began this idea and still a solid attempt despite the notable lingering shots on people’s backs to make a quick cut. The tension is built up well by Hitchcock using the camera to visually suggest people’s thoughts and suspicions.

 8. Strange Days (1995) this underrated sci-fi thriller features one of the first POV video game shots as we follow a bandit on an ultimately ill fated robbery through a restaurant to his fall to his death off the roof in their escape.

7    7. Halloween (1978) A long take sequence that follows the POV of a mysterious killer entering a house and murdering a young girl it is comparable with the shark’s POV in Jaws. One of the first uses of Steadicam it was highly influential but not nothing spectacular, it is on this list because of the incredible twist that ends the shot when we see the killer’s face behind the mask.

      6. Hunger (2008) Even though this is a fixed 19 minute shot with a locked off camera a long exposition filled dialogue between two characters, it still feels cinematic. It’ the only extended dialog scene in the film and is key to the whole motivation behind the Irish prisoner’s hunger protest. The simmering tension between the Liam O Connell’s Priest and Michael Fassbender’s IRA inmate is caught in unflinching style by experimental Turner prize winner Steve McQueen in his astonishing debut. 

5.   Silent house (2011) A film that follows Rope and Russian Ark in trying to reproduce a whole film in one take, this works better than the other two or even Rec (2007) as it has far more pace, slowly building tension from the opening crane shot before it takes us on a twisting and unguessable odyssey in quiet suspense, the most deadly kind.  It captures the lead performance by Elizabeth Olsen well whilst creating a believable atmosphere and environment of terror. The long take emphasises the house setting which we soon know inside out ourselves by the end of the film.  

      

      4.  The Player (1994) A homage to many films, The Player’s opening take actually starts with the satirical use of a clapperboard and manages to capture a lot of activity in a Hollywood back lot adding drama to an ordinary day at the office for Tim Robbins and his Hollywood execs.  

         3. Snake Eyes (1998) A long take sequence is one of a number of directorial trademarks that Brian DePalma peppers his stories with along with an obligatory split screen sequence. Also see his one in Blow Out (1981). In this he uses the long gliding Steadicam shot to introduce all the key players in a casino boxing fight as well as the ensuing political conspiracy when a senator Is assassinated at an Atlantic City Boxing fight.  The 15 minute take manages to cover all the important plot strands and relationships in a sweeping, observatory style before being cut off by the fatal sniper’s shot sets the whole plot into motion. 

  

      2. Children of Men (2006) One of a few impressive long takes by the master of long takes, Alfonso Cuaron it sees Clive Owen and company travelling down a country lane before in one of the most terrifying moments in film show us an army of savages emerge from the trees. It features a camera that could rotate 360 degrees within the confines of their vehicle. An adrenaline rid from start to finish; there’s a reason Cuaron won the Oscar.

  

        

                                          Special mention: Oldboy (2003) the unforgettable corridor sequence and no 1 is...

     1. The Secret in their Eyes (2009) Though not the longest long take in cinema or on this list it is the scope and audacity of this shot from this 2009 Argentinean thriller that means it takes the top spot. The elaborate shot begins high above a football stadium swoops into the stands where it follows a chase between a pair of bickering cops and their suspect on shakycam through the toilets and backstage areas, drops down a flight of a building before ending on the pitch itself with the inevitable capture of the suspect. A jaw dropping achievement by director Juan Campanella in creating a sequence with no limits which is what the long take is all about.

 Tuhin Chowdhury © 2014

   
    

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TV Review #1: Top Gear Burma Special

Top Gear Burma Special AKA ‘Top Gear Makes a Bridge’

The Top Gear Xmas specials are my favourite TV event, they mix real life challenges with scripted bits and even cultural documentaries with a light and at times gripping tone that’s always engaging making it for me the best show on TV. This very delayed Xmas special is a journey from the south of Burma (Myanmar) up through the country through it’s area of civil war to northern Thailand to build a bridge over the River Kwai using three lorries bought over the internet.

On the surface it is a fine concept for the latest special but the first part airing last Sunday reveals where it has gone wrong this year. The formula usually works well but this year they are struggling to derive much humour or even new challenges with this special relying on recycled bits from earlier specials. For example the jungle roads from the Bolivia Special, the dangers of night time driving from the India Special or the state of remote roadside motels from last year’s Africa Special. A lot of the jokes are far more scripted and noticeably fake than previous years such as the use of horses to get petrol at one point or Hammond trying to get his very high truck down a narrow street of low lying wires. None of the natural, spontaneous problems that arise in other Specials but a series of well-orchestrated mishaps. The first part crams in a lot of challenges but never seems to allow them to pay off, rushing through them without much humour and borders on elliptical as each problem with their lorries’ engines are miraculously fixed without much delay and without any tension that their vehicle might have broken permanently. 

                                               

The choice of Burma is slightly ill fitting as it lacks the inherent and unique challenges of previous specials such as the danger of insurgency in Iraq in the classic Middle East Special, the dry salt pans of the Botswana Special or the chaotic inner city travel of Mumbai in the India Special.  This special features the least engagement with the local people seen in a Top Gear special since the Polar Special.  

The best part of the Burma Special, oddly for a TG special is after the journey is complete and they must start work on the 60 metre bamboo bridge. At this point the laughs are bigger with Hammond floating down river, Jeremy’s crane collapsing on its side in a very dangerous but real moment and James falling from his suspended tent into the River Kok. These gags are far funnier than any of the mishaps encountered along the way like the party in the Shan rebel camp, with it’s blatant Apocalypse Now references. 

Verdict; In essence it is a rushed repeat of gags and challenges of other specials, the team dawdling about mishap after mishap till they get to the bridge making when it is back to classic Top Gear fun; This could have just been Top Gear Makes a Bridge extending the 30 minutes into the whole 2 hour slot considering the pointlessness of the journey they took to get there. It is a shame that it takes an hour and half before the special becomes enjoyable, but it ends on a tense and triumphant climax that only Top Gear can do.