Oppenheimer

”𝒫𝓇𝑜𝓂𝑒𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓊𝓈 𝓈𝓉𝑜𝓁𝑒 𝒻𝒾𝓇𝑒 𝒻𝓇𝑜𝓂 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝒹𝓈 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝑔𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝒾𝓉 𝓉𝑜 𝓂𝒶𝓃. 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈, 𝒽𝑒 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝒸𝒽𝒶𝒾𝓃𝑒𝒹 𝓉𝑜 𝒶 𝓇𝑜𝒸𝒦 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝑜𝓇𝓉𝓊𝓇𝑒𝒹 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝑒𝓉𝑒𝓇𝓃𝒾𝓉𝓎.” I can’t believe it’s already been a year since this masterpiece came out. Figured it’s the perfect time to rewatch it. I haven’t seen it in nearly a year, didn’t realize that until now. I’ve only seen it twice, and both were last year in theaters.  It’s very rare for me to watch a movie more than once in theaters unless it really wows me, so the fact that I saw Oppenheimer twice says a lot. I've always loved Christopher Nolan since the first moment I learned about him many years ago. His incredible track record and filmography amazed me, and for many years, he remained my favorite director and still probably is today. Interstellar is genuinely my favorite movie ever, and I hold it close to my heart. In my opinion, The Dark Knight trilogy is one of the best comic book trilogies and among the very few superhero films I tolerate nowadays. Some of his other works as well, such as The Prestige and Memento, are also incredible. To put it simply, I’m a huge fan of Nolan. Now, I know some people may think it's cool to hate on Nolan, but I never care about that. No amount of pretentious cinephiles will make me change my opinion of him. I don’t care how many Andrei Tarkovsky or Ingmar Bergman movies they tell me to watch. I will always be a fan of Nolan. Now, this may sound stupid, but initially, I wasn't looking forward to Oppenheimer. When it was first announced, I didn't find it very intriguing, in fact, I thought it would be a waste of talent by Nolan. A biopic set during WWII just sounded uninteresting and boring to me. Moreover, the fact that I didn't love Nolan’s two previous movies played a big role in my lack of excitement. I didn't care for Dunkirk that much, and Tenet, although I appreciate how experimental and bonkers it is, I just found to be messy. So, I was kind of skeptical about Oppenheimer. That is, until the marketing ramped up and the rave reviews came out. Naturally, when I saw the movie on opening day, I was in awe and when I went again a few weeks later, it just got better. I probably shouldn't have underestimated Nolan's ability to craft such an exemplary and deeply layered movie out of what seems like a simple biopic.  Now that Oppenheimer has had its first anniversary, I figured it’d be the perfect time for the long overdue, much anticipated rewatch and 3rd viewing. What did I think? I loved this just as I had done with my first and second viewing. With every viewing, I feel like I connect more things and the movie gets even better. It’s baffling to me how a 3-hour long, R-rated biopic, partially in black and white, was this huge of a success at the box office and that the general audience was willing to see it and enjoyed it. Sure, it had assistance from the Barbenheimer meme, and I’m not saying that Christopher Nolan doesn’t have pull at the box office, but it’s still surprising to me.  If you think about it, the movie is essentially just people talking for about three hours. But it was made interesting by Nolan's ability to craft engaging dialogue, develop complex characters, and build tension through masterful storytelling techniques, along with every single actor delivering powerful performances, making every scene engaging to watch. This movie will go down as a modern masterpiece, a modern classic. Every aspect is superb, the technical aspects, the storytelling, the direction. Every single thing in this movie is top notch. Visually, it’s beautiful. The cinematography by Hoyte Van Hoytema is spectacular. Shot on film, the colors pop vibrantly with deep contrasts and noticeable film grain. It also features a slight blue/greenish tint, characteristic of many Nolan films. One particular shot that stands out to me occurs about five minutes into the movie. It’s a shot of a green apple that Oppenheimer had poisoned. There’s something so special about a very simple shot like this. The rich, deep colors combined with the lighting, depth of field, bokeh, and framing create an exceptionally visually stunning shot despite being a simple shot of an Apple. Portions of the movie were shot in IMAX black and white film, which looked outstandingly crisp and clean. It makes me want a Nolan film shot entirely in this format. Nolan and Hoytema didn't do this just for the sake of it. The black and white scenes serve a purpose here. They are used to present an objective perspective, often focusing on Lewis Strauss. On the other hand, the colored scenes depict J. Robert Oppenheimer’s personal viewpoint. I find that to be a simple yet brilliant use of monochromatic visuals in the movie. I believe each of these were titled Fission and Fusion but I didn’t quite understand what that implied. Hoyte Van Hoytema’s incredible work in Oppenheimer finally secured him his first and well deserved Oscar win. The score by Ludwig Göransson will go down as one of my favorite movie scores ever composed. It’s genuinely incredible, intense and evocative. I’ve always found a good score to be crucial in media. For me, a good score helps invoke intense emotions and convey feelings such as sadness, intensity, etc. From the very opening of the movie, the score immediately captivated me. I’ll never forget the first time I watched Oppenheimer and experienced the 'Can You Hear the Music' scene. It was then that the now iconic score began, building in intensity and pace as the scene unfolded. Being in a Dolby Atmos theater and FEELING that scene was unforgettable. Another moment I’ll always remember is the Trinity test scene. The anxiety and tension it caused me the first time I watched it were intense, my heart was racing, and I felt as though I might pass out. Then came the complete, deafening silence that followed thereafter, not only in the movie but in the entire theater. The only thing that could be heard was the heavy, anxious breathing in the movie and of the people sitting beside me. For an entire minute or so, we watched the explosion commence until finally we were hit with the deafeningly loud shockwave that made me nearly jump out of my seat. The nerve racking tension wouldn’t have been possible without Ludwig’s amazing score and the snappy editing as well. The violin’s gradual, slow build up in the Trinity test scene was extraordinary. Over the span of about ten minutes, it slowly increased the suspense and tension. And I can’t not mention the ending of the movie. One of my favorite movie endings of all time and a deeply haunting one at that, made possible with Göransson’s fantastic score. Ludwig Göransson’s incredible work on Oppenheimer earned him his second Oscar win, which was absolutely deserved. He’s easily my favorite composer working today. However, I would argue that he should have won another Oscar for Tenet's score, which I find to be insanely underrated. In retrospect, I will say what many others have stated as well, visually speaking, the actual explosion is a little underwhelming and on a smaller scale than anticipated. Although I appreciate the use of practical effects, one of my favorite things about Nolan is his commitment to doing as much as possible practically, which is unparalleled and shows his dedication. I feel he sacrificed the scale of the explosion for the sake of practicality. It could have been done better using CGI instead. Nevertheless, the Trinity test is still a spectacular and intense scene. I also wanna touch on the editing by Jennifer Lame (who also won an Oscar for this movie) and Nolan’s direction. The movie is incredibly quick and snappy. Once it starts, it maintains a rapid pace and rarely slows down, making it difficult to catch a breath. Several scenes feature such quick-cut editing that they create a relentless, almost overwhelming momentum. I remember it was almost hard to follow during the first viewing, which is why I preferred subsequent viewings where I could connect with the movie more easily. We jump between different time periods almost relentlessly moving from after the bomb has been dropped, to before it was even created, to scenes of the interrogation, between objective and subjective perspectives and so on. Non-linear storytelling is not new for Nolan, but this time it is taken to a whole new level.  How could I forget about the incredible acting performances? The standouts being Oscar winners Robert Downey Jr. as Lewis Strauss and long time collaborator of Nolan Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer, both delivering their career best performances. And the rest of the insanely, stupidly stacked cast was great too. Even if some of them barely had any screen time, it felt like everyone wanted to give their absolute best with the time they had with Nolan. Ultimately, Oppenheimer is Christopher Nolan’s magnum opus, his masterpiece and brilliant masterstroke, what his entire career has led him to. It is the film that finally granted him his well deserved, long overdue Oscar for Best Director and Best Picture, which I find absolutely ridiculous. There were many other opportunities when he should have won it, but I digress. This is the pinnacle of his career and, in my opinion, his most ambitious movie. Only Nolan could have made a biopic this layered, deep, and enriching while still being so entertaining and engaging. ”𝒴𝑜𝓊 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝒶𝓃 𝒶𝓂𝑒𝓇𝒾𝒸𝒶𝓃 𝒫𝓇𝑜𝓂𝑒𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓊𝓈. 𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝓂𝒶𝓃 𝓌𝒽𝑜 𝑔𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓂 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓅𝑜𝓌𝑒𝓇 𝓉𝑜 𝒹𝒾𝓈𝓉𝓇𝑜𝓎 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓂𝓈𝑒𝓁𝓋𝑒𝓈. 𝒜𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓎’𝓁𝓁 𝓇𝑒𝓈𝓅𝑒𝒸𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉.”