Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.0
Audio		2.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.5

Victoria Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf February 11, 2016

“Victoria” is a gimmick film from director Sebastian Schipper, who, a long time ago, appeared in the German art-house hit, “Run Lola Run.” Perhaps looking for a way to update the run-and-gun formula, Schipper attempts to razzle-dazzle the audience with a single take, following the action through an unbroken shot that lasts a whopping 138 minutes. As a technical achievement, “Victoria” is impressive, working with loose choreography and precise planning to turn a casual night of drinking for the players in this dangerous game into a turbulent series of personal challenges. While it’s a neat idea, Schipper doesn’t have anything more to offer than the basic cinematographic stunt, taking such a long time to position characters into the heat of the moment, he forgets to add the moment.

Victoria (Laia Costa) is relatively new to Berlin, moving from Spain for a fresh start, taking a menial labor job at a local café. Partying the night away in a club, Victoria is hit on by Sonne (Frederick Lau), who’s palling around in a drunken stupor with friends Boxer (Franz Rogowski), Blinker (Burak Yigit), and Fub (Max Mauff). Welcomed into their mid-morning plans to stumble around the city, Victoria is intrigued by the men and won over by Sonne’s kindness, with the pair hitting it off as they steal beer from a local market and develop a confessional relationship. While Victoria is charmed, she’s soon indispensable, with Sonne’s crew tasked by a local crime lord to rob a bank. With a man down, the Spaniard agrees to be the driver, embarking on a panicked hour of survival and escape as the law comes calling, pursing the gang across the city.

Schipper doesn’t want to make a cheap adrenaline shot of a movie with “Victoria.” Characterization is very important to the production, which tries to create a sense of emotional weight to the titular character by spending so much time with her before the bank robbery plot comes into play. In fact, there’s nearly an hour of conversation between the transplant and her unsteady Berlin brothers before anything resembling excitement begins to brew, leaving the viewer with ample time to soak up personality nuances and subtle moral choices. Victoria’s surprising aggression is delivered one drip at a time, grasping the substantial change the seemingly timid woman makes when she’s offered a shot to participate in a breathless crime. While she’s uneasy around the stealing of beer and apartment games featuring restricted roof access, these moments of submission are key to Victoria’s arc, exploring her interest in bad behavior long before she’s put to the ultimate test, surrounded by men she barely knows.

An hour is a long wait for “Victoria” to graduate to the next level of suspense. Schipper doesn’t quite earn the delay, despite a laudable attempt to shape personality. However, instead of oceanic dramatic depth, the feature enters a cycle of repetition, spending the first half of the movie with a pack of drunks and their clumsy attempts to impress the lone woman who’ll talk to them. The “Berlin Guys” toy with menace and deception, but Sonne is genuinely enamored with Victoria, and the viewer is left to study every moment of shyness, stupidity, and connection. Brevity isn’t on Schipper’s to-do list, with conversations and flirtations playing out in real time. The intent is to secure familiarity and the development of bonds, but the picture slowly but surely slips into a coma, in desperate need of editorial pruning that sharpens momentum. Schipper uses osmosis as his storytelling tool, making the early going of “Victoria” feel endless.

Victoria Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The MPEG-2 encoded image (2.40:1 aspect ratio) presentation is admittedly dealing with a tricky movie. Shot on commercial grade digital cameras in a single take during evening hours, "Victoria" is more of a functional viewing experience than a dazzling one. Detail is acceptable but never remarkable, hitting inherent softness in the original cinematography, and textures are only interesting during intense close-ups, rarely displaying full power. Contrast struggles at times, creating problems for delineation, which runs into a few passages of solidification, making some evening events difficult to identify, including pained reaction shots. Color isn't a priority for the production, but subdued hues fare well, surveying street decoration and club lighting, while skintones are acceptable. A noisy patches are detected, along with some banding.

Victoria Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The default audio selection on the "Victoria" Blu-ray is a 5.1 Dolby Digital mix, and it takes a long time before it reveals its limitation. There's no separation to be found, with the track presented as one channel pushed through all speakers, delivering a strange mono listening experience that doesn't service the movie's needs. It's murky, overwhelmed, and difficult to listen to, with music often competing with dialogue exchanges, while the directional design of the production is reduced to a single stream of activity. However, there is a 2.0 Dolby Digital mix that's unadvertised (it's not accessible on the bare bones main menu), and it provides a much more defined aural event, servicing the feature with appropriate clarity. While the mix still doesn't impress or experience the feature's lossless expanse as hoped for, it supplies direct access to dramatic displays, making conversations intelligible, while club scenes offer a more atmospheric snap, delivering some EDM throb to back up celebratory moments. Street interactions aren't as crowded, sounding as natural as the original elements allow. If it all seems a bit confusing at first, just hit the audio button on your remote. "Victoria" immediately opens up, allowing listeners to enjoy the movie.

Victoria Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There is no supplementary material on this disc.

Victoria Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Tensions finally arrive in the second half, once the chase begins and characters are put on the defense. The one-shot gimmick is obviously remarkable, with digital cinematography winding around the actors, dashing in and out of buildings and cars. The planning to pull off such a feat alone is nearly worth a viewing, yet "Victoria" doesn't make much of an effort to move beyond its stunt intentions, with bloated screen time once again threatening the efficiency of a simple plot. Once Victoria's feral nature is revealed, the endeavor should spring to life. However, all the weight packed on in the first hour keeps "Victoria" sluggish and anticlimactic. There's a profound character analysis buried in the picture, but emotional density is sacrificed to highlight showmanship.