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VICTORIA: 3 ½ STARS. “nothing good ever happens after 3 am.”

To further prove my theory that nothing good happens after 3 am, along comes “Victoria,” a new thriller from director Sebastian Schipper.

It begins innocently enough. After a night of clubbing the title character (Laia Costa), a young Spanish woman new to Berlin, meets four German guys on the street. They’re loud and playful, but after some initial flirting the night takes a serious turn. One of their crew has drunk himself legless, leaving them without a get-a-way driver for a dangerous favour they owe to a very bad man. As things turn innocent to sinister Victoria goes along for the ride.

“Victoria” is a thriller—so I won’t reveal anything else about the plot—that succeeds through a slow build. Schipper’s technique, shooting the entire movie in one continuous shot, over dozens of locations without the aid of special effects or CGI (or an editor, I guess), is flashy and eye grabbing, but more importantly lends a sense of immediacy to the story. The plot itself, while alternatively exciting and strained, isn’t ground breaking, it’s the cinematography’s you-are-there feel that gives the movie its oomph.


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