7th Floor

In Fabien Bielinsky's great film, 'Nine Queens', Roberto Darin brilliantly plays a charming con- man. We never know until the end which side of the con he is on; but somehow, one can't help rooting for him, even though he doesn't deserve it. In 'Septimo', Darin again plays a man potentially caught up in a trick. But the problem with this brief film is that is provides little evidence to judge the man's character: it's clear he's let people down in the past, he seems to be reasonably straight now, but the audience has little choice but to root for him as a conventional hero; I found I didn't really care either way. Darin remains one of my favourite actors; but the material here is too thin to make the best use of his talents.