1BR

Dir. David Marmor

90 Minutes

USA

2019

Starring: Nicole Brydon Bloom, Giles Matthew, Taylor Nichols, ALan Blumenfeld, Naomi Grossman

***/*****

Frequently engaging and often pleasantly nasty, David Marmor's feature debut 1BR has an intriguing idea and a quite surprising and twisty script, but has many moments (and a frustrating ending that gravitates towards wanting to continue the story in a sequel) that halt and let the concept do the heavy lifting over creative execution. The early scenes quickly set the stage-Sarah gets a new place in an apartment block that emphasizes community amongst its friendly tenants (well, except for that creepy guy with the eyepatch that she keeps catching staring at her)-before very quickly escalating to finding out what is actually happening in the complex. Marmor somewhat stops and seems content polishing the mythology and origin of his concept at the expense of his characters. Plot mechanics and reveals push these characters along rather than the narrative becoming organically developed by the ensemble, and expository dialogue kicks in to try and eradicate that flaw and give "cause" to why each of these characters is eager to be part of this twisted group. Even Nicole Brydon Bloom's Sarah is given little interiority to work with outside of her early suffering (and later Stepfordian daze) aside from a tacked on personal conflict regarding her estranged cheating father, and if not for a throwaway line of dialogue to herself about escaping this situation one would have little sense of what she may or may not be planning. And both a final "surprise" alliance and last twist have the impression of being necessary for movement when having nowhere else to go.

However, these stumbles are mostly present upon reflection and the film is rarely maddening in the moment in how often it shows its obvious construction. It is actually quite consistently entertaining, and Marmor is pretty relentless in how early (and how often) he escalates the material. There is an unfortunate lack of imagination in his visual style, mainly because the space of the apartment community is so ripe for experimentation and eeriness, but again the concept takes over, twists providing surface level surprises that give momentary pleasure instead of being something more memorable. There are things to like here, and the film does more often leave a positive impression than not.

May 1st, 2020