Director: Christopher Nolan
Cast: Fionn Whitehead, Tom Glynn-Carney, Jack Lowden, Harry Styles
Have I Seen it Before: Yes. It ran briefly here in town at the local arthouse theater, and in 35mm no less. It’s been so long since I’ve been able to be in any theater, that I can only dimly remember missing seeing films projected with actual film.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: This is a strange year.
Did I Like It: There are two categories, to my mind, of Nolan films. Those I admire, and those I enjoy (and admire).
It’s hard not to like his Batman movies, even the demonstrably wobbly <The Dark Knight Rises (2012)>. Inception (2010) allowed the director to scratch his James Bond itch when the Brocollies were not likely to let him take their livelihood out for a spin.
While Interstellar (2014) is hard to see as anything other than an attempt to channel Stanley Kubrick. It is admirable, but it’s never really on my active re-watch list. I remember thinking The Prestige (2006) was well made, but haven’t watched it since.
So where does Dunkirk rest on the Nolan spectrum?
It certainly continues his unbroken streak* of producing epic, imminently believable big-budget films. The camera—and by extension, the audience—can be overwhelmed by the massive oceans and befuddling aerial photography. I mentioned earlier that Nolan is trying to channel Kubrick, and that may have seemed like a dig, but no one is more successful than he in their imitations. He understands the camera like Kubrick did. He makes big—and far more intelligent than we probably deserve—entertainments like Kubrick did.
And, frankly, like Kubrick sometimes did, he’s made a film here that is impressive, but distressingly distant from its audience. I’ll admit perhaps that it’s distinctly English sensibility may be slightly alienating to this American, but that isn’t fair. A modern audience might look on it as a nearly silent film (Nolan reportedly wanted to shoot the sprawling epic with no script, but was talked out of such a bold gambit) and blanche. I wouldn’t, and if I did, that would be unfair, too.
But sometimes criticism isn’t fair, it is a snapshot of a feeling in that moment, and so Dunkirk is moved conclusively into the admirable, but not quite as enjoyable as one hopes when greeted by the Syncopy vanity card.
*No, I haven’t seen Tenet (2020) yet, and until it hits home media or there is a widespread, proven vaccine, you shouldn’t either.