WTC View

Clearly adapted from a stage play, this low budget film avoids the crass sentiment of the big productions. It is now appearing on cable TV for a wide audience and will almost certainly gain wider attention.

The sound and feel of its location are exactly right, without ever focusing in on the eponymous site itself. Clever use of micro scenes accent the mood of the main character, whose internal anxiety is the true center of attention. And the acting of most of the walk-through characters adding dimension to that character's development shows that a good script and good direction can overcome lack of big-time experience.

What a great relief from the morbid sentimentality of most 9/11 stories! A real stunner. Must see.

After viewing dozens of features and shorts at 2005's Newfest in New York City, 12 festival days climaxed for me at the screening of WTC View. The story of a gay man living 12 blocks from Ground Zero placing an ad in the Village Voice for a roommate to share his Soho apartment on Sept. 10, 2005, his respondents' and his reactions during the next few weeks plucked a string in this ex-New Yorker's soul that is still resonating as I write this.

Just like that fateful day of November 22, 1963, hardly any of us will forget what we were doing and where we were when we heard of 9/11. I was sitting with a now-deceased friend of mine in my Amsterdam canal house apartment when the phone rang not long after 3 pm Central European Time and a Dutch friend of mine told me to turn on CNN to see something incredible. And indeed, from 3000 miles away the shock and panic pierced me to the core. To relive a group of New Yorkers' own narratives and reactions was both purifying and heart-rending.

The individual stories of the characters in WTC View, each a personal and personalized vignette of how their lives had been changed on that fateful morning, death and survival intertwined, the New Yorker's coping strategy confronted by 'you can run but you can no longer hide', healthy reactions to sick jokes, all make this a film no one should miss.

Kudos especially for director Brian Sloan and actors Michael Urie and Nick Potenzieri as well as the rest of the players who had me laughing and crying from beginning to end.

I recently had a chance to screen this film with the director present. He said that his two inspirations for this movie came from Rear Window and Rosemary's Baby. Not exactly two films that come to mind when you think of a 9/11 movie. However, they are fitting. The main character in the movie is trapped in his apartment. We do not see the outside world until the last frame. His prospective tenants go and look out the window of the bedroom and we know what they are looking at without ever seeing it. We do not see it because it is not a movie about us. It is a movie about the characters on screen and their dealing with the tragedy. Writer /director Brian Sloan has captured almost every angle of reactions to that day. Perhaps the most interesting reaction comes from Alex(Nick Potenzieri), as someone who was actually in the tower when the plane hit. He has a positive look on life, and begins to look at everything differently. This movie would be fascinating enough if it were just about prospective roommates and their dealings with Septemeber 11 but it isn't. It becomes much more as we deal with Eric and how profoundly he was affected by that day. This movie is an intimate, moving portrayal of events that we all know, but in a much different way than we have ever seen. I highly recommend it if you can find it to watch.

I stumbled upon this movie somewhat randomly, as someone with a similar experience living in New York City and searching for roommates after 9/11, and had no idea anyone had ever made a film on this topic, and did enjoy and find commonality in a few brief moments and scenes. While I am straight, I went through much of the same emotional turmoil as the main character in my desperate search to find a roommate and continue my New York City life in the days and months following Sep 11. I ended up having to leave my apt, and began the first serious romantic relationship of my life in October 2001, an intensely passionate and largely dysfunctional relationship which ended horribly, yet nonetheless I will always love her dearly. In truth, we were both still grieving and dealing with these events in our own ways when we met, only weeks after these events, and if not for 9/11, we never would have met.

I still feel a lot of guilt over my anguish over the years and how Sep 11 affected me personally, because in comparison I was so fortunate compared to so many others who lost their lives, friends, loved ones, or suffered permanent health issues. But the emotional toll it took on all of those who lived through it directly, even those of us seemingly spared from direct loss, should not be overlooked. I am glad someone made a film about this. I only wish they had found better actors!

Unfortunately, the acting and directing are so bad that it's mostly hard to watch, as it takes away from the impact of the script (which isn't that bad and has some strong, cathartic moments). All the body language and interactions between the gay lead and his potential "roommates," were just "off", as if he had no idea how to relate to other straight or female actors. Even the way he interacted with his female best friend felt phony and forced. The only time the main actor seemed comfortable at all was during the gay scenes (nothing pornographic but definitely might be uncomfortable to some viewers), which I think says more about him as a bad actor than any statement about the film or events.

The majority of the reviews state how the film "brought it all back", "the feelings we all had but did not dare talk about", and on the other hand a surprise concerning the actor playing Eric who was a bitchy character in "Ugly Betty". Well, that does not tell me a thing about the film. Was it good, bad, a pretext for the nostalgias? Did it study them?

The premise was good: not showing what lies outside, leaving it all for the last shot, trying to focus, or maybe make it a bit suffocating, yes, that was a good premise. Unfortunately, it is average. And being average in a feature that puts itself in that specific period and these events, wow, it must score! Not this one. The feelings in the end are too respectable, they take themselves too seriously, as if it is a disgrace to be comical, not knowing how wise this is. And the main character does not. See how reportedly lame in the dialogues his jokes are. OK, he may be embarrassed. But so is the film. Even worse, because being embarrassed can be defended by "so were the times", this is unfortunately counteracted by giving interiority to the possible room-mates parading. For they sure have more interiority and humanity than the main character, and this makes me not really care about him. He is too neurotic and self-conscious for any caring dramatic effect, and the direction is too slice-of-life no exit up to the end, to come off as something else than, actually, biased.

I would prefer a slice of the others' lives. They seemed more alive, and, at some points, giving their time to Eric's "ranting", as his friend repeatedly said, was little more than pandering.