You don't know how great it is to read the positive tweets about "Dunkirk" the last week or so, mostly from fanboys, bloggers and filmmakers, but, still, that's better than nothing. I'm catching a screening next Monday and so will most of the big American city critics. Expect plenty of reactions around 9pm Eastern Standard time, then we will really know what are its Oscar chances.
From the tweets it does sound like the film is told from three distinct narratives and they don't happen concurrently. Meaning we'll be jumping between three timelines to tell these separate stories. Also saw one tweet complaining about the lack of character but I like the idea of Nolan just dropping us in with these soldiers and not having forced dialogue to reveal character development. It's good to hear the film isn't dialogue-heavy either, this might be the most unusully structured narrative Nolan has given us since "Memento."
Tim Blake Nelson has been making films for thirty years and hasn't directed a narrative feature in more than ten. "The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd," is the best thing he's done since "The Grey Zone.”