Cliff Notes – The 9 best ‘one-shot’ movies to watch after Adolescence and where to find them
- Boiling Point (2021): A British thriller set in a restaurant kitchen, filmed in a single take, showcasing the chaos of a single evening. Available for free on Channel 4.
- 1917 (2019): A war film that appears as a continuous shot, following two soldiers on a dangerous mission during WW1. Streaming now on Netflix.
- Birdman (2014): An Oscar-winning film presented as one continuous take, exploring a washed-up actor’s struggle to revive his career. Streaming now on Disney Plus.
- Silent House (2011): A psychological horror film that creates the illusion of a single take, focusing on a woman terrorised in her family’s vacation home. Available for rent on Apple TV Plus and Amazon Prime Video.
- Rope (1948): Alfred Hitchcock’s classic that unfolds in real time, centred around a dinner party following a murder. Available for rent on Apple TV Plus and Amazon Prime Video.
- Medusa Deluxe (2022): A murder mystery set in a hairdressing competition, edited to appear as one continuous take. Streaming now on Mubi.
- Victoria (2015): A genuine single-take thriller that follows a young woman’s night out in Berlin, filmed in real time. Available for rent on Apple TV Plus and Amazon Prime Video.
- Utøya: July 22 (2018): A poignant film based on the Utøya massacre, shot in real time to focus on the survivors’ experiences. Available now on Amazon Prime Video via a free 7-day Viaplay trial or to rent on Apple TV Plus.
- Lost in London (2017): A biographical comedy-drama filmed in a single take and broadcast live in cinemas, depicting Woody Harrelson’s chaotic night in London. Available on Amazon Prime Video and Disney Plus.
The 9 best ‘one-shot’ movies to watch after Adolescence – and where to find them
Adolescence has captured the hearts and minds of viewers around the world in a stunning way, provoking debate among parents, teenagers, teachers and the Government alike.
While it tells a truly horrifying story of the murder of a 13-year-old girl, exposing the toxic darkness of the manosphere and incel culture online along the way, it’s also proven a gripping drama for Netflix fans.
Featuring Stephen Graham, who co-conceived Adolescence with writer Jack Thorne, the four-part series also stars Ashley Walters, Erin Doherty and Faye Marsay – as well as a stunning debut turn from young actor Owen Cooper – and is directed by Phillip Barantini.
However, it’s not just the story that the urgent piece of TV tells but the way it’s told that has engaged audiences so thoroughly: Adolescence is four single-take episodes, which together tell the story of the show.
That’s four one-hour long instalments, filmed in one shot with the cameras rolling and following the actors around as the action unfolds in real-time each episode.
Get personalised updates on all things Netflix
It’s a conceit that requires incredible focus from both the cast and crew to work together smoothly and keep shooting no matter what, but Adolescence is not the first project to use this ambitious approach, with several films below suggested for you to explore if you want to see more of this type of contained storytelling.
Boiling Point (2021)
Also starring Graham and directed and co-written by Adolescence’s Barantini, Boiling Point is a British thriller set in a restaurant kitchen.
Initially based on a 2019 short film they’d made together, Boiling Point filmed the movie through four times before selecting the take that would be released.
Also starring Vinette Robinson, Alice Feetham, Hannah Walters, Malachai Kirby, Taz Skylar and Jason Flemyng, the action unfolds over one fraught evening as the restaurant copes with having its hygiene rating downgraded as well as an allergic reaction and multiple conflicts between staff and guests.
Making waves upon release, it became one of the most famous examples of this method of filmmaking and was followed up with a 2023 BBC TV drama sequel.
Streaming for free now on Channel 4
1917 (2019)
Nominated for 10 Academy Awards, 1917 was directed by Sir Sam Mendes, who co-wrote the film with Krysty Wilson-Cairns from stories his grandfather told him about serving in WW1.
Taking place after the Germans retreated to the new Hindenburg Line in France, it follows two young lance corporals, Will and Tom (George MacKay and Dean-Charles Chapman), who are tasked with delivering a crucial message to the front line to call off a doomed offensive attack after field telephone lines are cut.
Using clever filming and editing techniques, cinematographer Roger Deakins and editor Lee Smith manipulated long shots to have the entire film appear as though it were filmed as two continuous shots with one break in the middle, where the screen goes black as one of the heroes loses consciousness.
1917 also boasts a star-studded supporting cast including Colin Firth, Benedict Cumberbatch, Andrew Scott, Mark Strong and Richard Madden.
Streaming now on Netflix
Birdman (2014)
Birdman won the Oscar for best film – as well as director, original screenplay and cinematography – at the 2015 Academy Awards.
Director Alejandro González Iñárritu conceived of the film as being presented in one continuous take right from the start, bar one brief exception.
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) to use its full title, is about a washed-up superhero actor attempting to revive his fading career by writing, directing, and starring in a Broadway production.
Riggan Thomson is best known for playing the character Birdman, just like his real-life counterpart Michael Keaton was linked to his time as Batman in a meta piece of casting, which earned the star an Oscar nod too.
However, Birdman wants Riggan to return to blockbuster cinema and torments him with visions and a mocking internal monologue.
The movie also stars Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Emma Stone, Andrea Riseborough and Naomi Watts.
Streaming now on Disney Plus
Silent House (2011)
Silent House is another film which uses the one-shot illusion, in reality being a series of shots lasting between 10 to 15 minutes which are sewn together to look the movie was in the can after one single take.
The 2011 psychological horror focuses on a woman (Marvel star Elizabeth Olsen) who is terrorised while cleaning her family’s vacation home alongside her father and uncle after a young woman turns up on the doorstep claiming to be her childhood friend.
It was a remake of the 2010 movie La Casa Muda, which claims to be based on a real-life incident that occurred in a Uruguayan village in the 1940s.
As with all of these films – and Adolescence’s episodes – the action unfolds in real time.
Available for rent on Apple TV Plus and Amazon Prime Video
Rope (1948)
Perhaps one of the first and most famous to do it, Alfred Hitchcock’s 1948 film Rope unfolds in real time and was edited so as to appear like four long shots, back to back.
Based on Patrick Hamilton’s 1929 play of the same name, Rope’s action all takes place in one room after two young men strangle their former classmate to death in their penthouse apartment in pursuit of committing the ‘perfect murder’.
They then invite friends around for a dinner party – including their former housemaster, who they think will approve of their act – which takes place in plain view of the antique chest their victim’s body is stuffed in.
Rope starred James Stewart alongside Farley Granger, John Dall and Joan Chandler.
Available for rent on Apple TV Plus and Amazon Prime Video
Medusa Deluxe (2022)
Medusa Deluxe, written and directed by Thomas Hardiman, is a murder mystery film set in the world of competitive hairdressing.
As the synopsis continues: ‘Extravagance and excess collide, as the death of a contestant sows seeds of division in a community whose passion for hair verges on obsession.’
The film stars Clare Perkins, Harriet Webb, Anita-Joy Uwajeh and Luke Pasqualino, as well as Kae Alexander as the model who does her best to get to the bottom of the scalped hairdresser backstage.
Medusa Deluxe takes place as all those involved with the competition are waiting to be interviewed backstage by the police (who we never see), speculating wildly, as the camera explores the building and its inhabitants in what is edited together to appear like one continuous take.
Streaming now on Mubi
Victoria (2015)
For Victoria, we return to the realm of the genuine single-take, one-shot film, with a 12-page script to work from and cast improvising dialogue during a 2.5 hour filming window on April 27, 2014.
The German crime thriller, directed by Sebastian Schipper, follows a wild string of events a young Spanish woman (Laia Costa) is sucked into after encountering a group of young men while exiting a Berlin nightclub and forming a friendship following a rooftop drinking session.
Her flirtation with one of the local men, Sonne (Frederick Lau), then turns potentially deadly as she leaves to open up the café she works in and a dangerous secret is subsequently revealed.
Victoria also stars German breakout star Franz Rogowski, Max Mauff and Burak Yiğit.
Available for rent on Apple TV Plus and Amazon Prime Video
Utøya: July 22 (2018)
Utøya: July 22 is a bold and affecting Norwegian film directed by Erik Poppe and based on the real-life tragedy of the Utøya summer camp massacre that took place on July 22, 2011.
The movie features fictional characters but was created thanks to close work between writers Anna Bache-Wiig and Siv Rajendram Eliassen and over 40 survivors.
It follows Kaja (Andrea Berntzen) from a third-person perspective before and throughout the 72-minute attack, and mostly consists if a single take shot in real time.
As its intention was to promote understanding of the victims and focus on their stories, the terrorist who was responsible for the deaths of 77 people on that day is only shown briefly twice.
Available now on Amazon Prime Video via a free 7-day Viaplay trial or to rent on Apple TV Plus
Lost in London (2017)
Another first, Lost in London from Woody Harrelson (pictured with Owen Wilson, R) was a single shot film – and also the first to be broadcast live in cinemas
Lost in London can claim not only the distinction of being a genuine single-take, one-shot movie – but it was also the first film to ever be broadcast live in cinemas in January 2017.
Hollywood actor Woody Harrelson wrote and starred in the film, his directorial debut, alongside Owen Wilson, Eleanor Matsuura and Louisa Harland, as well as a series of cameos from the likes of country star Willie Nelson, Daniel Radcliffe and Bono as themselves.
Billed as a biographical comedy-drama, Lost in London was based on Harrelson’s real-life experience of a night out in Soho club Chinawhite in 2002, when he broke an ashtray in a London taxi, was pursued by police in another cab and ended up spending a night in jail. As you do.
Rehearsed ahead of time before it was shot on the streets of central London at 2am, beamed simultaneously into more than 500 US cinemas as well as Picturehouse Central in Piccadilly, Lost in London was praised as ‘edge-of-the-seat, seat-of-the-pants film-making’ by The Guardian.
‘He didn’t just jump in at the deep end: he did so into shark-filled waters,’ added critic Ryan Gilbey.
Available now on Amazon Prime Video and Disney Plus
