The overwhelming suspense does not detract from the moment-to-moment tension and indeed frees you to enjoy the film's technical accomplishment. The director, Massimo Coglitore, came to prominence in 2003 with your short film in 35mm ''Deadline,'' which similarly discovered new visual and stylistic possibilities. Coglitore also directed ''Uomo di carta,'' a Pirallendiano short movie and the TV movie "Noi due" a comedy love story where the look and atmosphere of that picture were so fresh, so persuasive, and so well matched that the logical instability of the story almost didn't matter. ''The elevator'' or "3 minutes" with its small cast of characters, and severe constraints on time and space, is a less grandiose undertaking. Aside from brief scenes at the beginning and the very end, the whole thing takes place on a single set in a single night. But its challenges were clearly attractive to the director, and his camera sense and assured pacing make it an above- average thriller. The director has mastered the traditional syntax of cinematic suspense: the shifting points of view, startling cuts and slow camera movements that work subliminally to fill us with dread and anxiety. But he also uses computer- assisted techniques to amplify the effects, extending what the camera can do. Vote 10!!!.
Review of The Elevator
