The Elevator

The Elevator is somewhat of an ego fest for writer/director/star Gabriel Bologna.

It certainly has its moments, but with its inter-cut stories of short films, that of which Bologna is pitching to producer Martin Landau in the elevator, we are slightly bored stupid and handed a heap of amateurish indie film making that had me reaching for the remote control.

With a nice and dark, slightly unexpected, end to it all, The Elevator is worth a watch and does feature great performances from Gabriel Bologna and Landau when alone in the elevator.

A marmite movie would best describe it.

Big-time Hollywood producer (Martin Landau) on his way to receive a humanitarian award, gets stuck on an elevator with a quirky, naively idealistic neophyte (the film's author, Gabriel Bologna) who has a head full of dreams and a backpack full of short scripts. Nothing is as it first appears, however, even the depiction of the first segment, an off-the-wall indie student's grade-C exercise that features Richard Moll, Phil Fondacaro and Richard Lewis.

As Bologna reads his shorts to a surly and reluctant Landau, the stories get better and more realistic, leading up to a totally unexpected finale. The shoestring production values show, and the credits may elicit a few knowing snickers, (Bologna co-starring and writing, and Athena Stensland, who stars in the third story with Arye Gross a co-producer.)

Yet I applaud them both as well as the rest of the filmmakers, for not only managing to get their work made and seen, but for creating something compelling enough to attract this kind of a cast. BEING JOHN MALKOVICH it's not, but it does mark Bologna as a writer/actor to watch.

A contrivance in which a Hollywood producer (Martin Landau) is trapped on an elevator by screenplay writer/elevator operator (Arye Gross) provides a basis for presentation of some interesting short filmplays with good quality performances by a variety of familiar film actors. Good entertainment.