Apartment Zero

This is an old review I wrote for an interesting, yet imperfect film 'Apartment Zero.' starring recent Oscar winner Colin Firth. Beware of spoilers:

I just finished watching 'Apartment Zero' and wow, what an incredibly fascinating film! There were many facets to it that were intriguing and that worked quite well, while others which I believe came off as a bit cheesy, dated and tacky.

First off, Colin Firth was absolutely brilliant as the character of Adrien. You could tell just what his whole life had been like up until the film started, just through the little tid bits and hints that they showed. A rather dull, sheltered and repressed existence which probably had a lot to do with his childhood of being born in Argentina but living in Britain, while he moved back to Buenos Aires in perhaps young adulthood. As a result he probably never fit in anywhere and found refuge through his mother, as well as films.

I absolutely loved the character arc. Where he starts off watching an old classic film in the empty theater, to leaving a packed porno theater at the end of the movie. That last scene where he walks out and sees that we, the audience has caught him at one of those places sent chills down my spine. It practically made up for quite a few of the films shortcomings.

The main problem I had with the film was the second half when it became increasingly apparent that Jack Carney turned out to be an American mercenary that took part in the Argentinian death squads. I know that they gave hints to it throughout the film, but I still believe that it kind of dated the film, as well as took away a lot of the mystique that the first half had.

Such mystique was wonderfully done in the first half with the sexual ambiguity of his character and his homosexual flirtations with many of the men in the building Adrien lived in. Those were some powerful and complex scenes with each man. Real fascinating character studies. Though it seemed to be dropped in the second half when this whole big plot thing regarding Jack being a mercenary drove the rest of the film. And there were all of those awkward slapstick scenes with Adrien's neighbors that I didn't like, especially when they thought that Adrien killed Jack and so they threw him down a few flights of stairs. Didn't work for me.

I simply think the last half or 2/5 could have been done a lot better. And didn't need to be related with recent historical matters in South America. I understand why it may have fit in thematically, but I bet there would have been better ideas out there than how the film turned out.