Loft

Highly recommended Belgian movie Loft (2008), proved to be a very engaging cinematic fare about five married men renting a state-of-the-art loft apartment as a playground for their extramarital affairs and a meeting point for encounters with their mistresses, one of them, eventually, becoming an object of a crime scene, so the initial story about five "allies", plotting together, united around their common gains and benefits, evolves into exciting whodunit puzzle about five "enemies" scheming against each other, divided by their individual excuses and vindication, a group of supposed-to-be friends now going through self-exposing, eye-opening exercise, with a number of revealing-concealing, (un)intentionally deceiving, mystery building flash-backs, leading to a numerous clever twists and turns.

My friend from Belgium recommended this movie back in November 2008. And now one year later, I have finally seen this Belgian movie entitled "Loft." I do not know any of the cast, but she mentioned that these are some of Belgium's greatest actors, and that was enough for me.

"Loft" tells the story of five male friends who each have a key to plush penthouse loft in a snazzy apartment complex. They use this loft to consummate illicit romantic affairs away from the prying eyes of their wives. But one day, their neat little arrangement gets a wrench thrown into it. A dead girl was found handcuffed to the bed one night. So the movie delves into the cover-ups, lurid secrets and double-crossing that are revealed as the friends try to extricate themselves from their tight situation.

The look of the movie is very stylish, very Hollywood-like. This is the same loft we see in American movies like "Sliver" or "Basic Instinct". Same is true with the editing, music and cinematography. However, I felt that the scriptwriter tended to over-reach towards the ending. The plot could have already ended neatly, but still he decided to push for another one, making matters too convoluted.

Overall, this movie is good to watch, exciting and tense as it went along. But do not try to analyze too much watching it, as this would cause you to discover a lot of questions about the plot and its various holes, especially when it comes to the sequence of events.

Although 'Loft's purely Belgian outlook and atmosphere may not appeal too much to Americans, one should not be deceived by this.

When looking through, it soon becomes clear that 'Loft' is a very good film. First of all, this thriller has an ingenious plot that keeps you on the tip of your seat from beginning to end. Considerable value is added by the play of an impressive number of Belgium's greatest actors and actresses. 'Loft's picturing is adequate at least, too, supporting its plot rightly by creating a tense mood.

Also pretty characteristic for this film is its very Belgian pace. Relaxed and unhurried, it allows you a fair amount of time to follow all its twists & turns.

The 100% Belgian 'Loft' no doubt will rank among the great films from the Low Countries. It certainly stands out in all their releases from the last ten years.

In Flanders, there has been such a huge hype about this movie that it's almost impossible for director Erik Van Looy to live up to the expectations. If we are to believe everything that has been told about it, this is supposed to be the best movie ever made in Flanders, and a Hollywood remake would only be a matter of time.

Let's face it: Loft is a run-of-the-mill thriller. Not bad, but not excellent. It looks very stylish, and that is perhaps also the problem: apart from style, there is not much else. The whodunit-story is OK, but twists and turns just a little bit too much for my taste. The acting is all right, but not world-class. The cinematography is good, but not imaginative. The characters are flat - we don't know why they do what they do.

The movie lacks a little bit extra that could have made it really good. There is no theme, no emotion, no message. There are no scenes that stand out. Not one single scene makes you cry, shiver or laugh. That's OK - you can't expect every movie to do that. Loft is good, but not great.

Storytelling is an art.

If you have a decent story to tell, there's a couple of tools one can use to involve the audience in this modern crime-mystery. The creators have carefully made use of a well proportioned amount of all sort of goodies at their disposal to make the movie captivating. It stings your interest, it bites your brainwaves and in a completely natural way it wakes up the hidden private detective in the spectators mind.

You're no longer watching the movie, you are in it yourself.

"Loft" is a well build-up whodunit-flick, both worth your money & your time.