Appartement zéro

Hi, fellows. It´s great to read positive reviews on such peculiar film from the eighties. I watched it at the time on a video tape rented at a friend´s shop in La Lucila. She was smart to tip me as to our extremely local setting. Because, apart from all the achievements mentioned by other users, to me the moving thing about this moving picture is that the York has operated as a true cinema theatre for well over half a century in Olivos, next to a small lush square by the unfrequented Borges train station. Where us kids from the neighbourhood would go walking sunshine or rain to watch three films in a row. When my elder brothers first took me there, the way to the toilets was around a hen coop. Later in the seventies friendly ushers would let us pass to watch restricted films. To mention but a few films I saw there: The Wizard of Oz, You Only Live Twice, Cabaret, Julia, Yellow Submarine, Isadora. After staying closed for years following the theft of their projector in the eighties, in recent years the smallish York cinema house is owned and run by the Municipalidad de Vicente López and offers all films and live shows gratis.

I've never seen a character like Colin Firth's Adrian in any movie, before or since. It reminded me however of some people I know, including me. Colin Firth gives him life without trying to win friends. He is so tightly screwed that there's no room for anything in his life other than old movies, the kind that let you escape to, sometimes, darker pastures. "Touch Of Evil" is playing at his deserted revival theater in Buenos Aires when the film opens. We see Colin's face watching and the voice of Marlene Dietrich "He was some kind of a man". I had seen "Apartment Zero" many years ago and I remembered the impact, I went home and couldn't fall asleep. The faces of Colin Firth and Hart Bochner keeping me awake. I never saw the film again until last night. I remembered entire sequences, music and faces. It was strange to see it again after a lifetime of personal experiences. I laughed out loud, I wept, I was terrified. My only qualm was the length. I got impatient sometimes waiting for those moments that I knew, were about to come. Now I own it and I know I'll come back to it again and again. Highly recommended.

I saw this movie 25 years ago and liked it. I learned the movie trivia game that they play throughout the film and have played it myself many times over the years. This is a very good movie. What it tells the viewer is that there are many sides to each person. We are all multifaceted and can't be defined by a single characteristic. This is so different than current films that seem to instantly define characters. " He's gay, she's black, they are violent etc." It's probably my favorite performance by Firth. Bochner is also excellent and watching it again made me wonder why he never had a bigger movie career. All of the tools were there. It's definitely worth a look see. Highly recommended.

I had a strange memory of this film. Unsettling. Frightening. Every so often I meet someone who's a devotee of Apartment Zero and I kept meaning to see it again. Well, last night, it happened. It took me completely by surprise. Clearly the first time I saw it I hadn't venture "into" the apartment. This time I did. Colin Firth is, is, I can't find the words. He creates a character I've never seen before in a movie. The sort of character you keep at arms length. Too creepy and gloomy but before you know it, you're with him, you feel for him, you start to recognize him until you say, wow, that's me. Hart Bochner is pure perfection as the catalyst with the mask. The characters in the building, the Greek chorus, are a xenophobe's nightmare. Elegant, brittle, hilarious and yes, terrifying at times but look at it. Where is the terror coming from? It points in one direction but you go there on your own. Oh yes. This Zero is a Ten.

Once again, I was gripped watching a 28 yr old Colin Firth act with such nuance and depth. I recognised Hart Bochner, but I didn't know where from. He played the utter office jerk in Die Hard but, here, clean shaven, I must admit the actor was drop dead gorgeous even if his character was far from it.

To top it off, the film has a wonderful twist ending. Had I not been looking into Firth's back catalogue; I would never have discovered this gripping film. Acting kudos all around.