🎬 #86 The Ingenuity of One Location.
I touched on this idea across a few newsletters - but it’s something I’ve always been drawn to both as a film viewer and maker, the idea of an entire feature length film actually confined to one location. There are a lot of examples of this type of film but there are few that are legitimately one location. Usually there are intros and potential outros that take us away from the main location - so they’re kind of ‘cheating.’ What I love about the idea is the commitment by the filmmakers to engineer a story with the most minimal of elements. Creativity is inspired not by the addition of money, time or set-pieces but by their removal.
Ridley Scott once said [paraphrased] you can make an entire film about a blue pen, you just need a good story. This week’s two films are examples of the most stripped back, single location films I’ve seen. Yet, they manage to tell riveting, heart-pounding tales to rival those set in 20 locations, spanning 10’s of characters.
Happy choosing, happy viewing
Bry
FILM ONE: ALL IS LOST
2013 Dir J.C. Chandor
Not only does this film boast only one location, albeit a mobile one, it only has one character who’s in almost every single frame - a trait it shares with the second film this week. This character is Robert Redford’s sailor, known only in the credits as ‘Our man.’ It’s a film about survival, resourcefulness and facing down the mortality that’s staring us all in the face. Big themes for such a lean film, that barely has any dialogue in its 146 minute run time. What seems like a lengthy runtime for this style, never once feels slow or monotonous. Again a testament to the skill of the filmmakers. They pull us in through pure physicality and action. Every detail is built to serve the most basic of human desires - not to die. The obstacles here are primal - all human vs nature or society in an interesting way.
The threat and suspense is heightened because of his character’s more advanced age. The simple fact that he’s slightly more fragile, than say a man in his 30’s, gives every action a new spin - there’s more jeopardy. Difficult things become even harder. And in the moments of pure struggle, Chandor holds on them, really showing us how difficult these actually would be. There’s no cinematic shortcut to being saved here. We see all the choices, actions and sheer physics of a man at work trying to do his best with the environment he willingly put himself in. The minimalist setting of boat set against the vastness of the ocean only serves to highlight just how confined the character and audience really is.
By focusing on one location, the filmmakers confine meaning there. Every detail tells us something, tabletops become landscapes, a movement of a hand becomes an epic battle scene, a breathe becomes a soliloquy. Its these types of films that constantly remind me that we’ve only just scratched the surface of filmmaking’s potential.
TL;DR Robert Redford’s sailor battles to survive whilst at sea alone on his small boat - while J.C. Chandor weaves a big story from the smallest of moments.
*Available for a small rental fee on Amazon, Apple, Google and YouTube in the US and the UK.
Fact: The shooting script was only 31 pages long - typical scripts for this film’s runtime might extend to 120 pages or more, usually a page a minute as a rough guide.
FILM TWO: BURIED
2010 Dir Rodrigo Cortés
This film’s has one location so constricting it’s claustrophobic. The film is strangely theatrical - one person commands the stage, with only a variety of props he must use to survive after realising he's been buried alive. There’s also a brilliant game-like element to the setting and use of props. Limiting the storytelling to a single character - Paul Conroy onscreen, and then dialling in other’s via his only means of communication, the mobile phone he’s been buried with, is a similar construct employed by Steven Knight’s single location thriller Locke, which is also excellent.
Much like All Is Lost, Buried is a powerhouse exercise in torture and endurance - how much can one actor take, how many obstacles can they face in such a limited space. We feel every strained breath with Conroy, as he faces off against his limited environment in a tight, pure story of survival. Cortés deploys colour and an ever more adventurous camera to make sure the setting never becomes ‘boring,’ keen visual interest is maintained throughout. And Reynold’s performance makes sure that we’re not just in it for some strange form of slow torture porn, we’re dedicated totally to his plight on various emotional levels.
Again, this is a brilliant example of just how much story can be told with so little. Its refreshingly minimal story palette makes sure we are firmly in Conroy’s coffin both emotionally and physically. The inventiveness on display here is really heartwarming and inspiring. Creativity can expand scenarios in ways that at first aren’t apparent and that is the magic of it.
TL;DR Cortés’ buried alive drama could also share the title ‘All Is Lost’ as Reynolds holds our hearts and minds firmly in his grasp for the duration.
*Available for a small rental fee on Amazon, Apple, Google and YouTube in the US and the UK.
Fact: Cortés was inspired by Hitchcock’s Rope and completed principle photography in just 16 days.