User Reviews

Thrilled to see Jenny Agutter again in this download, having not seen her in films for over two decades here. She's an amazing actress remembered from so many brilliant films from the 70's, WALKABOUT by Nic Roeg anyone??

This is a great film in all departments. Starting with a slow tracking camera creeping up on various people we feel we already know, for better or worse if you've ever lived in a city apartment. Great use of a well chosen cast of British actors and well paced suspense hold you in the film's icy grip and keep you there right until the payoff.

It's tightly contained with almost all views coming from within the apartments but this seems a deliberate decision and not about budgets. The direction and editing are taut but its not noticeably rushed. I really liked the way suspense is used and it's very NOTES ON A SCANDAL. Except with this blink and you might miss something.

Unlike most of the characters in this short film, I do not live alone, but I do have a neighbour whose car is an irritant and generally he is not really considerate of others in the row of houses. However writing that here is about as far as I have ever taken the issue, preferring instead not to raise the issue but stay back from it and carry on with my life. That is the theme for the majority of this film, where very few words are actually spoken but instead the character silently tut and mutter about the young neighbour they perceive as a nuisance. For the majority of the film I recognized myself in these characters – and I think for most of the people it will be this way.

The conclusion to the film seems like a jump from silent disapproval to something much more deliberate, even if it is rooted essentially in the same themes of isolation, lack of community and lack of empathy. It is perhaps a bit heavy in how obviously it delivers its point, but it is a point well made and the silent 'to-camera' delivery by the cast make it pretty effective. It is perhaps ultimately not as clever as some would have you believe, but it is effective in portraying a total lack of community and isolation – with people neither reaching out to others, or confronting their anti-social behaviour; ultimately leading to a dark example of a lack of community or society within the block of flats.