Across the Hall (2009) 5.8
A thriller about a standoff between a young man, his fiancée and his best friend who comes to his aide. Director:Alex Merkin |
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Across the Hall (2009) 5.8
A thriller about a standoff between a young man, his fiancée and his best friend who comes to his aide. Director:Alex Merkin |
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| Watch Trailer 0Share... |
| Cast overview: | |||
| Mike Vogel | ... | ||
| Danny Pino | ... | ||
| Brittany Murphy | ... | ||
| Brad Greenquist | ... | ||
| Arie Verveen | ... | ||
| Natalie Smyka | ... | ||
| Guillermo Díaz | ... | ||
| Dov Davidoff | ... | ||
| William Stanford Davis | ... | ||
| Erika Ringor | ... | ||
| Mark Engelhardt | ... | ||
| Chase Kim | ... | ||
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Erika Seifred | ... | |
The unbalanced Terry calls his best friend Julian that is having a bath telling that his beloved fiancée June is cheating him. Terry has followed her to the decadent Riverview Hotel, where she checked in to meet her lover in room 507. Terry explains to Julian that he brought a revolver to shoot her lover and is waiting for him in room 508, but his friend asks him to be calm that he will meet Terry in the hotel. Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
A sort of film noir, Across the Hall is dark, nonlinear, twisty, and above all, slow. Basically, a love triangle gone wrong ends in murder, betrayal, and so forth. It's almost Hitchcockian, as the entire movie takes place in a creepy old hotel, with almost no mention of the outside world or any prior events.
This is definitely not for the impatient, as it seems to stretch a half-hour's worth of events into an hour and a half. The slow pace adds to the ominous, brooding atmosphere they were clearly going for. I can't help thinking I would've enjoyed this more as a short. The dank old hotel, the creepy slow-witted bellhop, and the dark, dreamy Matrix-like photography provided more than enough atmosphere on their own.
The story is told in nonlinear fashion, with scenes appearing out of order, sort of like Pulp Fiction. Only here, the story is intentionally harder to follow, especially in the beginning. You get the hang of it towards the middle somewhere. The filmmakers clearly thought it would be more interesting to show certain results first, before showing the circumstances leading up to them, which seems to me like a terribly easy way to create suspense and the illusion of twists.
The ending is presented in the oft-copied Usual Suspects fashion, which is all too common nowadays, showing up in movies whose twists are not nearly as deserving. While you're sitting through the disjointed climax, which is wrought with slow-motion and typically climactic music, if you're anything like me, you'll start mentally listing plot holes and thinking about how the film is trying to look more ingenious than it actually is.
The movie is well-produced and good looking, Brittany Murphy is beautiful as ever, and all the acting is above par.