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This is an excellent movie, I must say. At first I was a bit
hesitant to watch this, because the first five minutes drag on with slow moving
dialogue and character development. This movie tries to make a clear point of
the fact that she is indeed a lonely desperate character, and they use her
vulnerability and desperation against the audience as we witness her injustices
but can do nothing about it. Finny Taylor is top-notch at both directing and
writing this great black comedy and gives us a minds eye view into this
character. The character Zoe often hides herself and escapes into music
throughout the movie, so much so she is well-known by a DJ at a local radio
station. The movie is often blaring hip music from the eighties and provides an
upbeat and light soundtrack considering the actual mood of the movie. Robin
Tunney is at her best here, often displaying two personalities and
switches them well conveying both child-like innocence and
vulnerability, and then courage and sexuality. Her character experiences
a massive change into the story of the movie and she pulls everything
off with ease and poise. She is the best aspect of the movie enabling
the audience to feel for her as she goes through ordeal after ordeal and
we root for her all the way.
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Throughout the movie she discovers
many ways to work around the device often having neighborhood friends install
devices for her to extend her range, and, my favorite, when she ties a string to
her ankle enabling her to move at limited distances like a leash. The greatest
sequences of the movie is when she makes the building she lives in her own
personal area of exploration and creates many ways to go through the building.
The movie takes edgy and suspenseful turns as she is forced to deal with a
mysterious obsessed stalker who taunts her over the phone. |
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She must attempt to
prove her innocence and expose this mysterious man to the authorities while
keeping this device on, which isn't an easy task. Finn Taylor shows off immense
skill as both writer and director, giving both an immaculate and witty script
while showing skill through the camera lens. My favorite scene is when Zoe seeks
out her stalker with the help of her police friend Daly (Tim Blake Nelson), the bracelet installer who pays her
weekly visits and has exactly nine
hours to seek out the man and return home or both their lives are at stake. She
manages to discover her stalker but is short on time and money. In an incredible
and tense scene she is forced to run nonstop across town. The camera never cuts
away but follows her all the way as desperation is her only strength. It's a
tense and powerful scene that shows both skill on the Taylor and Tunney's part.
The movie often has these goofy fantasy sequences that, are funny, are
completely misplaced through the movie and made me groan a little. Often
times it looks like the characters are on Acid rather than fantasizing.
I would have liked to see more with the romance between Daly and Zoe; I
felt the writer didn't focus enough on the relationships which could
have helped the movie in many ways. I was also very unsatisfied with the
ending creating a huge plot-hole and leaving me scratching my head and
asking a lot of questions that weren't answered.
This is a funny, tense, and edgy movie with
an excellent performance by Robin Tunney helped with a top-notch script and
directing by Finn Taylor. Too bad this didn't get much attention, I had a lot of
fun watching this.
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