The level of comfort and confidence between collaborators Richard Linklater, Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy is never more apparent than in the long car ride scene in the third entry in their trilogy, Before Midnight. It’s a take that lasts 14 minutes, interrupted by one cutaway that is apparently simply inserted in the middle of one take, at least according to Linklater, and gets us back into the spirit of these films, which relies supremely on the interest we have in these two people just talking to each other.
The beauty of this scene is that it captures, or perhaps foreshadows, the entirety of the movie, introducing us to tensions that are underlying this relationship that has become a long-term thing, and showing us how each character approaches this central conflict. Doing this in one continuous take puts immense pressure on the two leads, but their seemingly effortless capability shines through.
There are lots of examples of long takes that are celebrated, from movies like Kill Bill to Hard Boiled to Breaking News. Or rather, there are a handful of successfully executed long takes in the context of film history, and every one seems like a triumph and receives the appropriate attention. The 2002 film Russian Ark is noted as one movie that is done completely in one shot, not constrained by the celluloid limitations Hitchcock faced, instead being recorded digitally in one uninterrupted shot. Other contemporary directors are showing a greater desire to slow down the fast-paced editing so widely employed in modern cinema. Effects of this can range from greater realism and immersion to a more floating, dreamlike setting. The classic argument between montage and direct photography rages on, but if it results in more directors trying out more ambitious devices to advance each philosophical approach to movies, then we all benefit from a richer cinematic landscape.