L'heure du crime

Fans of Alfred Hitchcock and followers of the more recent "Girl with a Dragon Tattoo" series, would likely be pleased with this nail-biting psychological thriller from Italy, which delivers many unexpected twists during its 96 minutes of running time.

If suspense isn't your cup of tea but you enjoy art films with non-linear and unpredictable plots, you'll probably end up drinking the whole pot of this satisfying brainteaser from newcomer director Giuseppe Capotondi.

"The Double Hour" is actually a love story between a lonely immigrant, Sonia (a chambermaid at a high-end hotel in Turin) and the also lonesome Guido, an ex-cop working as a security guard at an art dealer's estate. The two meet at a speed-dating event and just as they are beginning to fall in love, a crime happens, and their relationship is cut short.

But before that, during their first date, Guido looks at his watch, which marks 23:23, and he tells Sonia that it's a double hour and that she should make a wish. This detail early on, serves as a metaphor for the double life of the characters and the double storyline of the film you are about to embark on. And it's details such as this one that you need to pay attention to, because every one of them is important to decipher this riveting puzzler that won't let you get too comfortable in your seat.

Acted to perfection by Ksenia Rappoport and Filippo Timi "The Double Hour" is making its way quietly now through art-house theaters in the United States. Don't miss it!

Greetings again from the darkness. Suspenseful thrillers, when well done, are just about as much fun as one can have at a theatre (unless you are Pee Wee Herman). The debut film from director Giusseppe Capotondi is very well acted, and pretty well written and filmed. It has some similarities to, but is not quite at the level of one of my Top 5 movies from 2008 - Tell No One.

Filmed in Italy (with English subtitles), the film does a terrific job of sucking us right in. Guido (Filippo Timi) and Sonia (Ksenrya Rappoport) meet at a speed dating event. He is a former cop now security guard, and she is a Slovenian immigrant working as a housekeeper at a swanky Italian hotel. Love blossoms for these two until the story takes a very dark turn. That's when all the twists and turns and misdirection begin.

Really not possible to talk too much about what happens, other than to say the characters and events aren't always what they seem. I really enjoyed the first two acts of the movie, but felt letdown a bit by the final act. Some of the visuals are very good, but the wrap up is just a bit disappointing. Still, the first 80 minutes or so are terrific and make the film worth watching.

This taut, splendidly acted and directed thriller knows how to play its audience. You can't help but want Sonia, a chambermaid whose life exhibits some bad karma, to pick lost-soul Guido out of the crowd at speed dating. Finally, something positive seems to go their way. But if so, why am I jumping at the least provocation, and what is making me feel so uneasy? Of course, it's a good kind of uneasy.

It's first-rate suspense. Every little detail seems to count, coming back later in the form of an I- get-it-now moment.

I don't know who their competitors were, but Filippo Timi and Kseniya Rappoport earned their best acting awards at the Venice Film Festival, as did the director Giuseppe Capotondi. Did they miss the deadline for submission into other film competitions? Did they forget to sign the forms? I can't understand why it didn't enter and win more accolades. It could have been an Oscar contender for foreign language film, it is that good.

All I can say about this film is that it ultimately made no sense to me whatsoever. Perhaps I'm just not smart enough for it, so go ahead and watch it and judge for yourself. If, at the end, you feel like you've completely wasted your time, then we're in the same boat, and I apologize for not having prevented you from watching it.

First of all, the performance of "Kseniya Rappoport" in the role of Sofia is remarkable. The strong point of the film is avoiding extremism to attract the audience in the manner of cinematic techniques that are seen in most films in this genre. The film consciously avoids emotionalizing the audience. It does not give slogans of moralism. The end of the movie is different and good. Moreover, the soundtrack of the film is well prepared. Overall, it's an average movie, but this movie and the movies before it show the promise of a tasteful director. At the Venice Film Festival, the film has received attention.