Zoning

While attending a seminar on "Architecture in Cinema", I discovered the movie "ZONING", an 80's thriller which takes place in a skyscraper. The entire film plays in a Chicago skyscraper. What really impressed me about this movie was how it used architecture to transcend the usual expectations of setting. Utilizing camera technique, photo technology and editing, it turns the background architecture into an independent element, providing a quasi-psychic matrix for the actors to play out the drama. I was surprised to learn, that not all the scenes represented in the movie as taking place in the same location were actually shot in the same structure. In fact, nine or ten different locations, in various countries, were combined to create the illusion of a single interior.

H. Rupp

I borrowed this tape from a friend of mine. He said this is an awful film and well, he was right... Only reason I was interested of this piece of crap was the music, it was made by Tangerine Dream. The music was a disappointment, it sounded like there was just one or two tunes (not even close to the best Tangerine Dream) repeated on and on and on... The acting was bad, filming was bad, editing was bad and the dialog was dubbed from German to English, which just added a one more bad thing. I just couldn't watch this without fast forwarding half of it.

Best laughs I got from the ultimately bad action-scene where the bad guys were running away from the good guys on a narrow corridor and everything in that scene was so cheesy... The acting was just ridiculous, the filming and editing were bad and the whole scene just didn't work - not at all. And of course, this is one of those films where EVERY sound of footstep were added afterwards... So the walking and running are always a funny concert of multiple TAP-TAP-TIPPETY-TAP footsteps. Every shoe HAD to have a tap-sound. You can hear the same effect in 70's kungfu-flicks too.

So... I don't have anything good to say about this. I tried but... no. =)

The truth about the movie lies somewhere in the middle of the reviews. I saw the movie in an almost empty Munich cinema when it came out - mostly because of Dieter Meier, the voice of the Swiss electronic project Yello. The movie tries to create some New Wave atmosphere, but most of it is just haircuts and clothes. Modern (1980s) architecture is used nicely in the picture, nevertheless it fails in almost every other regard: plot, character development etc. Still, as an example of this 1980s feeling you may give it a try (at least it is short!). Think Heaven 17 in a German television film.