MOVIE REVIEW: DUNKIRK (2017)
If you appreciate cinema, do yourself favour andcatch Dunkirk while it’s still on its theatrical run. Surely one of the most visceral war films ever committed to good old-fashioned celluloid film stock -- the cinematic equivalent of the warm crackle of vinyl; thanks to Christopher Nolan’s heroic, obstinate refusal to cave to digital pressures we get a richer palette, his cinematographer's usual panoramic framing and less jagged action -- particularly in the masterful dogfight scenes; spitfire ace Tom Hardy’s eyes patrolling unfriendly skies.
Ludicrously tense for a 12A cert, when the white cliffs eventually emerge beckoning back the bedraggled, they've never seemed more welcoming. Mark Rylance steals the show with another nuanced yet understated turn (Harry Styles is fine, though not really called upon to act).
There's a canny elemental theme at play here: Earth, Sky, Water and finally, appropriately, Fire. However, despite Nolan’s uncanny characteristic ability to sell challenging and convoluted, high-brow, lofty concepts to major studios, this is his most straightforward narrative. Similarly short shrift is given to characterisation (of what was a mass of anonymous squaddies at the event). These aren't necessarily shortcomings; this is about the event rather than the personalities. And a masterclass in cross-cut editing, it's arguably Nolan's best film to date -- which is saying quite something, in my book.