"Apartment Zero" is a close relative of one of my favorite films: Roman Polanski's "The Tenant" but "Apartment Zero" is not one of those annoying relatives, quite the contrary. They may share the same DNA but they also belong to different worlds. We're in a psycho social, erotic thriller here, set in Buenos Aires - a dead ringer for Paris at times - every turn is a jolting experience. Martin Donovan - the director - invades the privacy of his characters just to prove a chilling point - nothing is what it appears to be, or is it? I'm not going to give anything away that may spoil your journey but I should warn you than nothing is casual and that becomes clearer and clearer with each viewing. Jack seems ( and I believe he is) the one in control and Adrian is the fly caught in his web but, is he? There is a moment (I won't tell you where, how or when) in which Jack realizes he needs Adrian as much as Adrian clearly needs him. I wonder if Jack has ever met anyone like Adrian, if he ever had a friend - I mean a friend he didn't have to lie to - The chemistry between Colin Firth (Adrian) and Jack (Hart Bochner) is so compelling that you start to be with them even if, in real terms, they are not likable characters. Just like us. Let me explain. If somebody came to look at us with a magnifying glass, how many of us would pass that test? How many of us would be considered "likable" or "normal" We're humans and therefore, imperfect. One can live with ones flaws and imperfections in private, but once they come out it would make us look freakish. I think that Adrian is so aware of his strangeness - maybe he's been told and bullied all his life - that his obsessive privacy is his shield and behind that shield he's been disappearing for years. Zero. Colin Firth is magnificent in the part and his performance is so beautifully constructed that you're bound to discover new things every time you visit "Apartment Zero"
Review of Apartment Zero
