Open Windows

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.

Review: I wasn't a big fan of this movie. I didn't have a clue what was going on half of the time because the plot kept on changing without much explanation. When it all came together at the end I was quite surprised with the outcome but I don't think that it was well put together. The director over complicated the movie and he made it go in different directions which just became annoying after a while. Anyway, the movie is about a man whose obsessed with an actress and when he finds out that he has won a contest to have dinner with her, he really can't believe that his dream has come true. When he finds out from a mysterious caller that she has cancelled the meal because she can't be bothered to go, the mysterious man offers him exclusive access to the actress life, via cameras and hacking into her laptop and phone. After snooping into her private life, he realises that the mysterious man isn't all that he seems and he's ends up trying to save  the actresses life whilst putting his own life in danger. Its an original concept but it's executed badly. Elijah Wood put in a good performance because he brought intensity throughout the whole film and he made the situation seem real. On the plus side, this movie does show how easy it is to get into people's private lives with ease but for entertainment, it could have been much better. Watchable but not that great!

Round-Up: Elijah Wood has taken on some weird projects since playing Frodo in the Lord of the Rings franchise, like Grand Piano, Maniac and Revenge For Jolly, and most of his films seem to go straight to DVD. At 34, I doubt that he would be happy with the way that his career has turned out after the major blockbuster but he has got a film with Vin Diesel coming out soon, called The Last Witch Hunter, so that might bring him back in the spotlight. The moody and dark settings in this movie, worked well with the subject matter but it seemed like the director lost the plot. Some of the clever camera work was impressive and I liked the use of the different computer windows throughout the movie but it's a shame that the script was so sketchy.

I recommend this movie to people who are into their thrillers about an man who obsessed with a famous actress and wins a competition to have dinner with her but he finds out that the dinner is off so he seeks revenge with the help from a mystery caller. 4/10

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.

Nacho Vigalondo's Open Windows opens on an extremely promising note plenty of twists , turns and surprises . This is a Techno-thriller that addresses questions of life , computers , fans and belief against a strange antagonist . A jilted fan called Nick Chambers (Elijah Wood) soon finds himself pulled into a twisted chase after he accepts the opportunity to spy on his favorite player called Jill Goddard (Sasha Grey) via his laptop . As it takes place on a variety of screens and locations using different types of footage .

This Spanish/US co-production succeeds because of the thriller , tension , Kafkaesque suspense , as well as an interestingly written script concerning a complex intrigue in which our protagonists are in such extreme situation and their subsequent instinctive urges for survival . This laptop-set thriller deals with a deadly game of cat-and-mouse in which video cameras capture everything , and the internet has turned into a cesspool of surveillance that's hundred times more horrifying than Leatherface's dugout . We immediately see that the story is going to be told from some unorthodox perspectives as each scene is broadcast through a window on a computer monitor . Despite its average budget the picture manages to be intelligent , intriguing and thrilling but also a little bit boring and hard to follow . The good thing about this film is that the director made it on a limited budget only having to do a few sets , yet the movie works on many levels but is constantly reconfigured . Looking for a monologue from Elijah Wood you'll get it in the form of a confessional style Webcam appearance . There is here in separate windows featuring a Webcam feed , even the action sequences are showcased in this format . In spite of being technically a "Techno thriller", the film nods at everything from a technological world to Hitchcock to Giallo . The final result is an offbeat thriller that's captivating , in spite of not being all that fun or especially thoughtful , neither thought-provoking .

The motion picture was original and innovately directed by Nacho Vigalondo . Here Nacho adapts to the times and find thriller/action/mystery in the ways people are living today . Filmmaker Vigalondo manages to not seem completely daft and he is attacking our vulnerability online by setting his Techno film entirely unsettling . This picture relatively cheap was tautly written and directed by Nacho Vigalondo in his third movie , his first was the international hit titled ¨Time crimes¨ with Karra Errejalde , Barbara Goenaga and going on ¨Extraterrestrial¨ with Michelle Jenner and Julián Villagrán , both of them showing up in ¨Open Windows¨ as guest stars . Nacho , who usually turns up in his movies at brief appearing , is a good young filmmaker , a little prolific director because being usually writer for television and shorts filmmaker , he has only realized three films . ¨Open windows¨ is without a doubt a weird , mysterious film to be liked for thriller and suspense fans , turning out to be one of the most original Spanish movies of the last years . Rating : 6 . Acceptable and passable .

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.