7th Floor

We thought it was a pretty good movie. I would watch it again better than whatever superhero movie they are constantly putting out now. At least this is an original idea with true plot twists and suspense, great actors overall and satisfying ending... great entertainment!

A subject quite intriguing. A father who lost his two children playing a game that her wife had forbidden: who goes down faster from the seventh floor where they lived. Him by the elevator. Them down the stairs. However, when he reach the ground their children are not there. Suddenly commonplaces became unknown, mysterious. The performance of Ricardo Darin, great in films like Nine Queens and The Secret in Their Eyes, this time is not convincing and does not achieve the level of desperation that reaches for example Hugh Jackman, also as a father of a kidnapped girl in Prisoners, which compels him to cross the border of what is political correctness. Nor Belén Rueda reaches the level shown in The Orphanage where she also gives life to a mother whose son disappears in her own home. The end is resolved too quickly and with serious gaps in the plot (for example, how did her wife know exactly when will they play that game? It meant that someone had to be perennially waiting behind the door to catch the children? ). Anyway, absolutely forgettable film.

A subject quite intriguing. A father who lost his two children playing a game that her wife had forbidden: who goes down faster from the seventh floor where they lived. Him by the elevator. Them down the stairs. However, when he reach the ground their children are not there. Suddenly commonplaces became unknown, mysterious. The performance of Ricardo Darin, great in films like Nine Queens and The Secret in Their Eyes, this time is not convincing and does not achieve the level of desperation that reaches for example Hugh Jackman, also as a father of a kidnapped girl in Prisoners, which compels him to cross the border of what is political correctness. Nor Belén Rueda reaches the level shown in The Orphanage where she also gives life to a mother whose son disappears in her own home. The end is resolved too quickly and with serious gaps in the plot. Unfortunately, a very forgettable film.

To start with, Darín is one of the best Argentinian actors nowadays, and regardless (it is true) most of the times he plays the dodgy Argentinian kind of person, he always delivers an honest and intense performance to get you into the story. I always enjoy him and watch his movies. Santoros part is very good too, makes you think about him, and how's he involved in a very believable way. The story has enough mystery to keep me wondering what was happening to a certain point. Reactions from the characters in general were believable too and the setting was good and natural. But all this until the last third. there's a break point were everything starts to fail, events have no consequences and looses a lot of realism. There's a lot of plot holes and loose ends that are important but left unresolved. I wasn't really convinced by Ruedas performance (maybe her script wasn't good...), neither the kids acting was any good.. To finish with, the resolution was a bit simple and anti-climax. I was expecting something more interesting and in the level of the beginning of the movie, a shame that the ending didn't make justice to the first half. Some good acting, fair story and photography. Writing could be better. Average movie, not the best nor from the best of Argentinian cinema. An almost 6.

Writer/Director Patxi Amezcua (with Alejo Flah as co-writer) presents this Argentinean thriller SEPTIMO, essentially a two person drama that is powerful and predictable – until the very well conceived ending.

Sebastián (Ricardo Darín) and Delia (Belén Rueda) are divorced, have two children, Luna and Luca, and Delia is attempting to force Sebastián's hand for full custody of the children (the children are happy kids equally devoted to both parents. Sebastián arrives to take the children to school and Delia makes him promise to prevent the children from playing on the lengthy stairs that lead form the 7th floor to the lobby. Delia leaves, Sebastián gives in to the children's pleas to walk down the stairs, and the children go missing. Sebastián is a lawyer and must be in court for an important case, but when the children go missing he spends every moment looking for them – with a bit of help from the janitor and a police officer who lives in the building. Ultimately Delia is notified and the two await information from what appears to be a kidnapping. The children are finally released and the remainder of the film is a conflict that must not be shared in a review. Suffice it to say that the ultimate revenge served to Sebastián's wife is as devastating as the 'kidnapping'.

Darin and Rueda find the right degree of friction and compassion in this well-constructed film. The story has been done before, but this version has true grit – and intelligence. Grady Harp, December 14