Amazing long take you remember

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There probably was a topic made about best long takes and such but here it is different. First of all, yesterday I saw long day's journey into night and I saw the first real long take that took my breath away. Until this point, I've never been a fan of long take I often find them distracting and a simple tool of trying to impress the viewer. (for example: lubezki's long take or Brian DePalma's) But this time it was a different feeling. So my question is the following: Which type of long take you like and give example.



I'm a sucker for a good long take, as long as it feels integrated. For example, I recently saw Luce and there's a long take when Olivia Spencer's character has to deal with her sister in which the camera spins around her and it pretty much puts you in her headspace. But even with those that some might call "gimmicky" or might feel forced, I respect the technical prowess required to nail it. For example, the main reason for films like Russian Ark and to a certain extent Rope to exist is to showcase that, and it's impressive.

Other examples...

The climatic chase/gunfight in Carlito's Way is excellent and it puts you right there with Brigante.
Linklater does a few great ones in the Before trilogy which, paired with Hawke and Delpy's performance is *chef kiss*
There is a pretty good one in Spring where the camera follows the couple along the small town and the square
The opening shot of The Player which pretty much serves to set up the whole film and introduce most of its characters
The two long takes in Children of Men (the car and the escape) are breathtaking
The running/mirror scene in Contact is impressive
The hallway fight in Oldboy is energetic and kickass
The chaotic chase in season 1 of True Detective is nothing short of impressive
Cobra Kai pulled another impressive one in the end of season 2, that covered a schoolfight across multiple hallways
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Funny you mention Cobra Kai... The Karate Kid did it as well.

When Daniel and Miyagi are talking in Miyagi's apartment after Daniel gets beaten up... the scene is done in a single take.
This is only part of the scene, but it goes I think for about 4 minutes altogether.




is thouroughly embarrassed of this old username.
Although far from the most technically impressive, I love the traffic jam shot in Weekend.



There's a long take in Gerry where the two characters watch the sun set in the desert. To me, it really captured the way that such a moment (especially with another person) can feel both long and short.

If we're throwing TV in the mix, the hallway fight scene from the first season of Daredevil is maybe my favorite television action setpiece in recent memory. I love the way that it mixes what you see with what you infer. (I read that they accomplished it by using several stunt players as Daredevil).




As for ones which haven't been mentioned yet:

I like this one from The Protector. It's fairly underseen and it has several great set pieces in it, along with some great fighting choreography to boot.



The opening fight to The Revenant (which is actually comprised of a few long takes) is my favorite fight scene of the 2010's, which also makes it one of my favorite fight scenes ever.

The opening to Touch of Evil is pretty fantastic. It's definitely one of my favorite movie openings of all time as, along with a great tracking shot of the car driving behind the two leads, it always sucks me into the film right away.

I've enjoyed the long takes I've seen in Bela Tarr's films (Werckmeister Harmonies and The Turn Horse) as, while I'm not sure those films have a particular long take which sticks out from the rest, they do a great job at illustrating sculpting in time.

The tricycle scene in The Shining makes for a terrific slice of dread. Not only is it effective build-up, but the scare associated with this sequence at the end is what cements it as a great horror moment.

The long take in the hospital sequence of Hard-Boiled is pretty fantastic. Not only does it have some great fighting choreography, but when the two leads go into the elevator in the middle of it, they don't go to a different floor. As soon as the doors closed, all the broken glass, wood and props, in addition to the people killed, were removed from the set in that time, giving the illusion they were on a different floor.

Finally, the burning barn in The Mirror is pretty impressive. It's hard to describe exactly why I love it, but the way the camera moves throughout the house and captures the bottle falling off the table, one of the kids emerging from behind a mirror, and the haunting, yet strangely tranquil and ethereal shot of the burning barn at the end are really something.
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Funny you mention Cobra Kai... The Karate Kid did it as well.

When Daniel and Miyagi are talking in Miyagi's apartment after Daniel gets beaten up... the scene is done in a single take.
This is only part of the scene, but it goes I think for about 4 minutes altogether.

Ha! Never noticed that. Haven't seen the full film in quite a while.

Anyway, that reminded me of the long take during the middle of Hunger, which features only a 15+ minute conversation between Michael Fassbender and Liam Cunningham. More than the technical feat, here what shines are the two actors going back and forth without cutting.



Have you guys seen long days journey into night? The long take last 59 minutes and at one point they cross a forest in a zipline at like 100 ft from the ground and once they reached the other side they drop from the zipline very discreetly. Plus at another point they filmed a 11 yrs old kid driving a scooter in a hardcore road. Finally the location is a real village in the middle of the mountain in china and is so damn beautiful



Hmm, hadn't heard of that film, but it looks interesting and has good reviews. I'm adding it to my Letterboxd watchlist. Thanks!


EDIT: For anyone else that might be looking for it, here is the IMDb link. It is a 2018 Chinese film that's not to be confused with the O'Neill play or the adaptations of the play.



Sorry if I'm rude but I'm right
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Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.



Hmm, hadn't heard of that film, but it looks interesting and has good reviews. I'm adding it to my Letterboxd watchlist. Thanks!


EDIT: For anyone else that might be looking for it, here is the IMDb link. It is a 2018 Chinese film that's not to be confused with the O'Neill play or the adaptations of the play.
You need to be careful though. I don't know what type of movie you like but it is very slowgoing (much like many new wave asian movies) but the music is great as well as the set location.



You need to be careful though. I don't know what type of movie you like but it is very slowgoing (much like many new wave asian movies) but the music is great as well as the set location.
It's alright. I consider myself fairly tolerant to any style or genre.