How much Celsius do we have? A well-made picture, deftly parrying on the boundary between a claustrophobic thriller and a drama played out in the entourage of only one room.
Three tenants of the same house – confident Julian, pretty Moriette and elderly Nora accidentally find themselves together in the basement of the building to wash their things. It would seem that a terrible thing can happen in the laundry basement with people who see each other every day on the landing and use the same elevator? The answer to this question the heroes will learn when they discover that the only door of the underground room through which you can get out, somehow closed.
In recent years, there have been many films in which the hero or characters are left alone with a confined space, or trapped in circumstances because of which they can not get out of a certain place of action. Among such tapes, it is immediately easy to recall such vivid examples as “Frozen” (2010), “Ghosts” (2007), “Burried Alive” (2010), “127 Hours” (2010), “Phone Box” (2002), “Brake” (2012), “Gravity” (2013), etc.
Of course, against the background of such well-known and universally recognized hits, each of which is unique in its own way, Simon Abi’s film, released in 1998, looks more than modest. At the time of filming, the lead actor was just a debutante and did not have his current fame, the other two actresses are still familiar except that the most prudish connoisseurs of cinema. However, what no one really can take away from this picture is a familiar, but always interesting concept, so do not throw it aside.
Yes, the dynamism of "Gravity" is not here, and there is no such tension as that of "Buried Alive", but there is something that connects all the projects from this universe. Namely, it's a sense of curiosity. Will the heroes be able to get out of the current impasse? And the question is not just, can they? But if so, how and what will it cost them?
In this area, such stories always work flawlessly, to the extent possible, providing the viewer with passions and emotions. And let such a movie situation is devoid of sweeping battle scenes, but it definitely guarantees the effect of the experience. And for any good film, this nuance is much more important than a meaningless series of high-profile action scenes.
8 out of 10