Thursday, 24 April 2025
Thursday, 24 April 2025
Netflix series Adolescence emerged as the most-watched show on the platform last week, with over 24 million views in the first four days. Besides the gripping storyline and phenomenal acting, what made the crime thriller stand out was the fact that each episode of the show was filmed in a single take.
But the Philip Barantini-directed series is not the only gem to have pulled off this daring cinematic technique. If you liked the single-take episodes of Adolescence, here are five one-shot films you cannot miss.
Russian Ark (2002)
Alfred Hitchcock was one of the first filmmakers to try his hand at one-shot movies. While 1937’s Young and Innocent and 1946’s Notorious featured impressive long takes, it was Rope (1948) that truly embraced the idea — though it was still shot in a series of 10-minute takes as the 35 mm film cameras couldn’t shoot for any longer at the time. It wasn’t until Alexander Sokurov’s Russian Ark in 2002 that a feature-length film was shot entirely in one continuous take.
An ode to the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, Russian Ark is a treat to watch as the shots sweep through the opulent halls, capturing 300 years of Russian history in a single, unbroken 96-minute film. Its ambitious, dreamlike single take was executed by using a Steadicam-mounted Sony HDW-F900 digital camera, making it one of the first feature films to be shot entirely in high-definition digital video.
Boiling Point (2021)
Stephen Graham, who plays the protagonist Jamie’s father in Adolescence and has also co-created the series, stars in the 2021 drama thriller Boiling Point as Andy Jones, a chef who battles personal struggles and professional crises in a high-pressure London restaurant on the busiest night of the year.
The mounting pressure on Jones — from dealing with unreasonable customers to managing differences among his overworked staff — is shot in one continuous take in real time. The technique amplifies the film’s claustrophobic and anxiety-inducing energy, making every mistake and confrontation feel real.
1917 (2019)
Sam Mendes’ 1917 might appear to be one continuous shot, but it is actually created with several long takes meticulously stitched together. The World War I drama follows two British soldiers who are tasked with delivering a crucial message across enemy borders to save an army battalion from getting caught in a deadly trap.
What creates the illusion of it having a single, continuous take are the series of long takes, some even lasting for up to eight to nine minutes. To make it seem like a one-shot, cinematographer Roger Deakins played a key role, using cuts hidden cleverly through techniques like camera swivels, zooms and transitions masked by darkness. Other films which employed this method are Michael Keaton’s Birdman, featuring takes lasting up to 15 minutes, and Elisabeth Olsen-starrer Silent House, with its longest shot running for 12 minutes.
Victoria (2015)
Victoria, a German crime thriller directed by Sebastian Schipper, is a tour de force in real-time storytelling, shot in one continuous 138-minute-long take by Norwegian cinematographer Sturla Brandth Grøvlen.
The film follows a young Spanish woman named Victoria who moves to Berlin and gets embroiled in a bank heist after a chance encounter with a group of locals. Starring Laia Costa and Frederick Lau, Victoria features 22 locations and was shot in Berlin in one take between 4.30am and 7.00am.
Blind Spot (2018)
Tuva Novotny’s Norwegian drama Blind Spot is a heartwrenching portrayal of a woman coming to terms with her teenage daughter’s sudden psychological crisis. Unfolding entirely in one continuous take with no hidden cuts, the film draws viewers in to experience the grief consuming a parent struggling to understand the grey areas in mental illness.
Blind Spot, which marked Novotny’s directorial debut, immerses the audience in the raw and devastating emotions of the characters. Back in 2019, the film was shortlisted as the Norwegian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 91st Academy Awards.
