Victoria manages an impressive technical achievement: a street film turned romantic drama turned crime thriller, it was shot in a single, unbroken take in real time between late night and dawn. Victoria (Laia Costa), a pretty young Spanish student in Berlin, meets a quartet of drunk guys emerging from an underground dance club and—casting aside all good sense—decides to follow these raucous men she doesn't know into situations that could put her at risk. But while they may be thugs, they genuinely like her and she likes them, especially the good-looking Sonne (Frederick Lau). After 50 minutes of being a pleasant if overlong character piece, Victoria suddenly transforms into a heist picture, with Victoria volunteering to drive the getaway car. The offscreen heist (the camera remains in the car with Victoria) is a success but the getaway is a disaster as they decide to duck into a dance club instead of leaving the neighborhood. Victoria is a thoroughly confused character: joining a robbery after only knowing the men for an hour, keeping her head while they panic, and still treating the whole thing like a game. And the screenplay clearly contrives situations to meet the technical needs of the project, which leaves it being something of a dramatic mess. Neither much of a thriller nor a character drama, director Sebastian Schipper's film is mostly notable for its one-take production stunt. Optional. (S. Axmaker)