Open Windows

For most of its short running time, Open Windows is riveting. It involves a nebbishy guy who runs a website creepily devoted to an actress who finds himself pulled, step by step, into and insane and disastrous crime.

The movie begins on Nick's (Elijah Wood) laptop. He is messaged then given intrusive software that allows him to spy on the actress. As the movie progresses he gets in deeper and deeper; he is complicit for taking that first step but then is simply caught.

The film is cleverly shot entirely through screens open on the laptop. I'm not sure how this would work in the movie theater but it works great on TV.

The movie was written and directed by Nacho Vigalondo, who specializes in elaborate twists, but after digging himself in deep in the first hour he can't find an elegant way to dig himself out again, and the last part of the movie is a long, convoluted mess that is like he was trying to get every twist ending he could think of in one movie.

I loved most of this movie, and would have rated it a 9 if it had all been as good as that first 70 minutes, but the last part is maybe a 5 or 6.

A final note: this would make a great video game. There's a fairly obscure adventure video game called The Experiment that involves doing everything through security cameras, and I would love to see something similar done with this.

Anyway, if you're a fan of Nacho, check it out. For all its issues it's pretty entertaining overall.

*I tried to leave out any major story spoilers* It's day 6 now of the SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas. I went to check out "Open Windows," starring porn star Sasha Grey, at the Alamo Drafthouse on 6th Street downtown. I introduce her as "porn star" because her career as an actress has not really taken off, even after a title role in "The Girlfriend Experience" from Steven Soderberg, one of the greatest movie directors of all time. She was also in many episodes of "Entourage" on HBO. I've been kind of rooting for her since we don't hear many stories of porn stars becoming successful movie stars. They...can't be taken seriously. "The Girlfriend Experience" proved that wrong. Entourage played with the idea. Now, after hearing the premise, I was expecting Ms. Grey to be embracing her career in porn and actually let us watch her through "Open Windows" get naked in theaters.

The film...did...not...deliver.

What we do get is a world of technology. Almost futuristic, the film is shown through multiple webcams and security cameras. The villain has all of these at his disposal as well as the entire internet (apparently). Whatever statement the director was trying to make, I felt was lost. The third act really lost me. It's not even worth explaining. As for the rest of it, basically, we have an actress who sucks (Sasha plays an actress who's supposed to be popular), and her number one fan has a website and is set to meet her. The villain set this up to capture her and blame him for it. There are too many twists that the director couldn't even keep up with, and there were some applaud-worthy moments that were ruined by the way the film was made. It plays like a found-footage film, but we're watching it on a computer. The entire thing is real-time so it feels like it's all done in one take.

What it SHOULD have been... Was a "Rear Window" homage. That's what I was expecting based on an article in the Austin Chronicle that actually mentioned "Rear Window" as if "Open Windows" was going to pay respects to Hitchcock. Instead, "windows" here aren't the ones we look through to engage in voyeurism like a pervert at our favorite porn star. They're the ones we look at on a computer screen! Elijah Wood (oh yeah, he was in it) shouldn't have been forced to leave his hotel room, as if the director wanted us to leave our comfort zone so early, even though a car chase erupts when he chases down the bad guy. This was actually the best scene in the film, and with a low camera angle through much of it from inside the car (via webcam on laptop in passenger seat that is somehow not sliding around everywhere). That should have been the climax, because it was actually mildly gripping until it kept going, slowing down the whole pace of the film. The narrative goes crazy with twists, too. Like, too many. They didn't make sense, either. The director admitted to this in a Q&A after the show. Audience members were asked for questions, yet unwilling to participate until the director just plain asked if anyone hated it so much that they wanted to slap him. True story.

This is an opportunity we should have for more directors, actually.

However, this guy was SO nice, I just felt bad for him. When a shot of Maker's Mark was offered, someone took the opportunity. He slapped the director on the stage. He knew his movie wasn't good. Someone did actually ask if there was any commentary about being a celebrity or our current technology. He said that we're all okay with living lives that should be private and aren't. This answer was unrelated to the film. I wish Sasha would have showed up at the screening. Sasha Grey was basically playing herself, in the movie, an actress even. Except, one the world has never seen naked.

That's a joke, right?

This flick will not help her serious movie career.

I watched writer/director Nacho Vigalondo's Timecrimes a few years ago and was very impressed by the film generally, but especially by the unabashed ambition and imagination on display in what was a first feature-length effort. Open Windows demonstrates that Vigalondo's ambition and imagination is undiminished, but he could do with a little more restraint.

The set-up has echoes of Rear Window and Phone Booth, as Elijah Wood's super-fan Nick (a supposed competition-winner in town for a meeting with his favourite actress) finds himself let down. The curiously London-accented "campaign manager" for said actress (equally curiously named Chord) gets in touch, but evidently has motives of his own as he begins to manipulate Nick. The situation gets increasingly disturbing as the suspiciously tech-savvy Chord continuously ups the ante. To summarise the plot from here would take as long as the film given the density of events and twists, but overall the story gets progressively more bonkers and convoluted before careering off the road in admittedly entertaining fashion.

Vigalondo might be too imaginative for his own good at times, and I'd class Open Windows as a noble failure, but it's entertaining nonetheless.

God bless Nacho Vigalondo ('Timecrimes' / 'Extraterrestrial'); he is a madman in person and in practice. 'Open Windows' is another attempt at an unconventional, high-concept thriller exploring the medium of film at its heart - action through time - and in ways that no one else has even conceived of. Elijah Wood's character is set up in a hotel in Austin having won a sweepstakes to meet his favorite actress, played by Sasha Grey - who, based on some of her IMDb titles ('Anal Artist' / 'Pop Goes the Weasel' / 'House of Ass 3'), isn't likely a Disney alum. When Wood is notified by her representative, 'Chord', that she has canceled their meeting and that being rude to her fans is nothing new, as a supposed retaliation, he's presented with the opportunity for remote access to the actress' laptop, phone, and webcam.

The film doesn't take much time dealing with the ethics of spying on someone but, rather, jumps right into a fast-passed thrill ride that has Wood's character jumping for A to B to C as Chord's true intentions unfold. The story is told in real-time, almost entirely on the screen of a laptop, with practical cameras following multiple events, and various plot points reveled through pop-up windows on the screen. The film was cleverly introduced as a modern-day 'Rear Window' and the gimmick does work; it took some time to get used to but, the tension ramps up quickly and, though the format is pivotal to the story, you almost forget that you're watching anything but a standard narrative. Unfortunately, it's the technology within the narrative that stretches disbelief a bit too far as the twists and turns become more and more bizarre. I'm always curious to see what Vigalondo has up his sleeve and his ambitions did not disappoint but the limitations he imposes on himself as a filmmaker seem to have pushed the state of modern technology into the realm of 'fantasy' which distracts from what is, otherwise, an inventive hostage/who-dun-it scenario.

I read the reviews, took a chance, lots of action for sure just not a very realistic story line. Nothing wrong with acting, it is quiet good. It just was a bit nutty for me. And unrealistic..but it is a movie. 5/10 at best.