Deep focus: Long takes

An amazing compilation from Jim Emerson of 8 great long takes. Not to be missed. I watched the clips before I read his breakdown of each clip below the video, and I suggest going that way, too – so you can experience the long takes fresh, and then go check out the commentary. Some are well-known to me, others I had never even seen before – and I am now thinking of other long-takes in films (not just the obvious ones that everyone knows – but more invisible ones – ones that don’t so much call attention to themselves) – and what it is about them that work, when they do work. For example, the long take on Candice Bergen’s face in Carnal Knowledge (I wrote about it here) as she laughs hysterically at the jokes being told by Jack Nicholson and Art Garfunkel, who are off-camera. The camera never leaves her face. She laughs so hard she is in tears. It’s an amazing long take, and if it had been broken up, with cutaways to Nicholson and Garfunkel – it wouldn’t have had the same power or meaning. They both are competing for her love and attention. THEIR focus is only on her, and so should ours be – hence the camera never leaving her face. That’s one of my favorite long takes. Fascinating.

Go check it out.