I rented this movie from the local library without knowing anything about it. It was in the horror section and I wanted to watch a good horror movie. Never heard of Hart Bochner --- it was Colin Firth's name that got my attention. I came home and watched it the next evening. What a treat! Since then I have watched it three times and ordered it from Amazon and now writing this review, my first-time ever, just to give this movie the 10 it so truly deserves. I understand why Apartment Zero can be mistaken as a horror movie, and I am grateful that it was in my case, but to me it is a lyrical political thriller with a very strong focus on identity, love and loss; it is also funny as hell. It is a story of two men at its core who are both spiraling out of control for different reasons. Hart Bochner plays the dizzyingly attractive professional assassin "Jack" operating in Argentina --- a government mercenary who turns out to be the much-feared serial killer in town. He becomes a dream and a nightmare roommate for Colin Firth's reclusive "Adrian" who avoids all human contact other than his demented and dying mother and a female colleague who has a passion for politics. Just the idea that "Jack" is real and not one of those movie stars whose pictures are hanging on his wall changes "Adrian" totally, it could have been all perfect if it wasn't for his collapsing mind and the violent trail of Jack's past and his real identity. There is a scene in the movie where Jack says to Adrian that he will be what Adrian wants him to be --- there is sudden shift with the camera angle and we have an amazing half close-ups of each actor, a scene which is both playful and chilling. In the end Adrian wants Jack dead, there is no stopping it. So, Jack lets him. Amazing movie. There is even a cat rescue scene! Recommended to everyone who loves cinema. Need to add: I googled Hart Bochner after this movie and am depressed to see him in movies like Die Hard because he is a damn sex-god in Apartment 23, the hypnotic master of seduction. Very sad and grotesque ending because the movie is about momentum and a great potential which is all gone forever. A thriller, a love story --- it could also be totally viewed as a political metaphor from the last century, I guess. You can make your own judgement about it.
Review of Apartment Zero
