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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