Are long single take tracking shots overrated?

>>85356189
I just saw dunkirk, why was this not in the film?

>>85356303
This isn't Dunkirk.

Single take tracking shots are impressive when there's lots of dancing or fighting meaning that the editing didn't trick the viewer into making it look impressive by cutting parts.

>>85356303
It's a dunkirk scene from atonement, not from the nolan movie

Atonement was such a weird movie to watch for the first time if you don't know what it's about. It starts out as something that feels like a Pride and Prejudice tier romance, then it becomes this movie about loved ones separated, there's not really many war scenes, then suddenly you get this 5 minute long Dunkirk tracking shot out of nowhere, and it all turns into a story of... Well... Atonement.

>>85356189
Like any part of filmmaking, it works when it helps to tell the story.

Good example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJEEVtqXdK8
The cinematography in this scene makes us feel like we're walking with Henry and experience his life from up close, as if we are walking right behind them, which puts us right into the action.

Bad example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKuGWHyz-gI
This shot gives too much information which the audience does not need. Especially a tense scene like this would benefit by having quick montage, which is used to build suspense and create tension. Even visually, this shot is not very impressive.

>>85356189
It's just like any other kind of shots, if it helps the mood or message the movie or scene is trying to convey, it's good. If it's empty virtuosism, it isn't.
I think of them as guitar solos, there are some that are so good that you just can't imagine the song without a solo, or with a different solo, and there are others that are completely gratuitious and add nothing.
The thing is that the line between one thing and the other is kinda blurry. For instance, the tracking shot in Dario Argento's Tenebre is nothing but a gratuitous display of virtuosism, but it actually ends up being beautiful and like in most of his better films, it's this kinda thing that elevates his movies from being simple forgettable thrillers with laughable plots.

>>85356189
they're too obvious and showy, too staged and pretentious

Nowadays tracking shots feel so ostentatious to me (idk if this is the right word to use in this context)

They just do it for the fucking sake of it, even though it doesn't enhance the experience in any way, it's just to get "woah great cinematography" points from pleb audiences