Italian psychological thriller, winner of Best Actor, Actress and Italian Film at Venice Film Festival 2009.
"Sonia, a pretty, recent arrival from Slovenia, is working as a chambermaid in a fancy Turin hotel, when she joins a speed-dating club and hits it off with Guido, a hunky security guard. A rapid, full-on introduction to Guido’s world slides into labyrinthine nightmare. Suddenly she is suffering memory blanks and the police seem to be investigating her. What’s she got herself into? When you think you’re figuring that out, new evidence appears to throw your picture out. Then, just when you think the film has gone one twist too far, you realise it hasn’t at all: what’s been going down around Sonia actually makes complete sense, and you’ve been entertained by experts." (New Zealand International Film Festival 2010)
I apologise, we feel bad, but there's no trailer available. ~Ed.
An updated version of classic film noir with a cool continental twist, The Double Hour is one of the most critically celebrated Italian movies of recent times, as well the recipient of a clutch of Venice Film Festival gongs. This recognition is based on the manipulative twists of its script, strong performances and some well-placed moments of technical virtuosity.
The basic plot merges elements of romantic mystery and crime drama and pushes the boundaries of those styles into something unique. The finale doesn’t live up to the many twists and turns that have come before but the film could never be accused of being predictable, as it poses more questions than answers and would most likely reward a re-watch where the subtleties would make themselves more apparent.
While all this narrative trickery is taking place, the two leads are able to pull off a melancholic love story that makes the work more than a conceptual creative exercise. The emotions they conjure up are an important counterpoint to the post-modern whodunit that swirls around them. There is also some deft usage of the soundtrack and atmospheric Turin locations to round out the dark mood of the picture.
Ambitious and intelligent, expect to see a Hollywood remake. See it now so you can appear all cool and cultured when the English-language version comes out.
By Andreas Heinemann, Flicks.co.nz
This film is being reviewed as a complex psychological thriller, when actually some of the plot twists play like old episodes of "Dallas". But it hardly matters. The reason that these qualities of complexity, psychology and mystery are being played out, is because it is essentially a good old fashioned metaphysical ROMANCE. Sacrifice, masochism, loyalty. It reminded me of all those films from the 1940s about the sweetness of impossible love "The Ghost and Mrs Muir" or "Now, Voyager" with a little violence from the "Maltese Falcon" thrown in for humour. Very old fashioned. Very well done. Loved it on a rainy Sunday late afternoon.
Saw this at the 2009 film festival and don't understand why it took so long to appear on the circuit. A story that is mazelike and disorienting,performances that are sometimes sphinxlike and mysterious and a climax that is exciting and logical (if a little overdone). Well worth your entrance fee. Forget Hollywood!
This Italian thriller centres around a young, attractive woman who is seduced by a security guard during a speed dating session. A couple of days later, the two find themselves in the middle of a robbery. The events that take place afterwards is when the film starts to mess with you. Things start to seem out of place and before you can clip all the pieces back, the movie shakes and twists you back to square one. It‘s a solid mind blender, though some may cringe at the ultimate twist. Whatever your view, just be sure to take a Panadol.
Pretty to look at, making good use of the scenery in and around Turin; if nothing else, the runaway plot keeps the movie unpredictable.
A smart psychological thriller with the one fatal flaw that Slavic women in Italian television and cinema must be dark, tormented characters who hardly ever smile. In a criminal caper with a twist, this actually works against the story.
For what makes this tale something more than a puzzle to be solved is a level of emotional impact that genre exercises don't often provide, emotion traceable to sensitive acting that is similarly rare.
The attentive viewer may want to keep an eye out for a red bedspread and study closely a priest who keeps showing up. It may also be useful to wonder why a Slovenian emigrant to Turin is teaching herself Spanish. It won't explain everything but it will add to the thrill of an entertaining ride.
Not so much a genre movie as a movie that switches between genres -- and comes out on top.
We've been told the NZ release date for this flick is Thursday, 18th Aug 2011.
Release date: August 18th 2011.
We haven't received times for this movie in this location yet. However these are updated as cinemas announce them, so check back soon. Hopefully the lovely cinemas in your location will choose to play it shortly. ~Ed.
