Nocturama (2016) 8/10
Starting with such a long dialogue-free stretch is a bold choice, especially with so little context to what's shown. It works, like the rest of the film, because of the brisk editing of a typical crime thriller even when that editing feels at odds with the slow methodical overall pacing. It has its share of bumps where I was wondering why I should care, but there was enough mystery and progression to keep me hanging on, and of course the visuals helped too. The, relatively, more wordy second half has some interesting tonal choices as well, developing a sense of tension together, yet somehow apart, from the characters on screen.
Despite the characters all showing clear signs of anxiety and worry their actions are completely at odds with this. It's the same style but reshaped towards a different purpose. As an exercise in filmmaking prowess this is an extremely captivating film. The content, though, left me wanting a little more, and especially once it was over I felt the experience a bit lacking. The only true context we get is a bit of flashback about a third of the way through, and I'm not sure it really adds anything to the film besides a bit of temporal confusion until I found my bearings. Yeah the film drops some hints here and there, but they only raise more questions. In fact, without them it would be easier to parse the film as simply hyperfocused on the event and aftermath and not motivation, but as is I'm left wondering what exactly I should take away from this. The characters show humanity, but my connection to that humanity is limited and there's no extra bridge there to make me really invested in their ultimate fate and actions.
Edit: Went back to read the earlier review
This is mostly a lie because the back half has even less story than the front and because it's post-climax, there isn't the feeling of heading towards something. The current has died down to a lazy drift and while there's a dreaminess to it, I don't see myself wanting to sit thru the last 30 minutes again. The spell was broken.
I don't particularly disagree with the spell is broken part, the film does lose momentum towards the end but I disagree that it's not heading towards something, it's heading increasingly predictably towards the ending.
The moment they turn on the lights, even though everyone says it's ok, there's a definite sense of a ticking clock and the film periodically reveals cracks in their security as the weight bears down on them. It's a bit of a tedious waiting game because we're not seeing the march towards the ending but rather the flipside blindness as the ending marches towards them. But tone and perspective of the film does increasingly reveal that the march is coming even if there aren't actual facts to support it. I find it an interesting choice and I think it works, though it's dragged out a bit longer than needed.