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Screensize: 640 x 480 800 x 600 1024 x 768 1280 x 1024 UserName: Password: Format Mode: Basic  Help  Prompt  Format: Font Andale Mono Arial Arial Black Book Antiqua Century Gothic Comic Sans MS Courier New Georgia Impact Lucida Console Script MT Bold Stencil Tahoma Times New Roman Trebuchet MS Verdana   Size 1 2 3 4 5 6   Color Black Red Yellow Pink Green Orange Purple Blue Beige Brown Teal Navy Maroon LimeGreen Message: Smilies [quote][i]Originally posted by BaftaBaby[/i] [br]This is one of those films I went into cold, assuming it was going to be a remake of the 1954 thinly disguised anti-Soviet classic about irradiated giant ants attacking America. However, this French chiller about a French couple in Roumania [based on the actual sad tale of an Austrian couple in Czechoslovakia] is powered by no such simplistic quasi-political messages. In fact, it's hardly driven by anything but atmosphere. For that it manages to create a self-contained world that becomes fear itself and any script deconstruction might just about reveal a tale of alienation. The plot, such as it is and completely unencumbered by any psychological examination, introduces us to an attractive, intelligent couple working in a foreign country - he a writer, she a school teacher. Mind you we meet them only after a pre-title sequence of a mindless murder, but we're soon diverted to want to know more about this particular man and this particular woman. But, in a coup of minimalist story-telling, that's about all we find out: they're witty, they love each other, and from now on they're plunged into a series of escalating and unexplained horrific incidents. Director David Moreau - who also co-wrote the script - is ably supported by some deceptively sophisticated camera-work that looks simple but combines with some of the tightest editing I've seen to produce a voyage of fear. Are we in a supernatural tale? Is this the working of the psychotic mind of a mass murderer? The wrap-up, when it comes, instantly makes us realize that clues have been there all along. Clues, not in the expected sense presented in a whodunnit, but glimpses of action which eventually make perfect sense in context. Moreau concentrates on the effect and not the cause; sadly it's not quite enough. Even at an hour and a quarter, this makes the film too long and it would have worked better as a half-hour short, since there's only so long one can sustain this mono-focus. He may need some screenwriting lessons, but that Moreau can direct, make no mistake. It's a classy piece of work, albeit no classic. [/quote]    -  HTML is OFF | Forum Code is ON   Check here to include your profile signature.