[*REC]

In a nutshell: The horrifying recording of gory goings-on in a Barcelona apartment building

THIS is the Spanish answer to video reality films like The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield, which increase the feeling of horror via pseudo-documentary cinematography. In these films, the supposedly haphazard way in which the story is recorded - with a video camera whose tape is discovered after terrible events have transpired - is just as frightening as the action on the tape itself.

As in the other two films, in [.REC] the viewer is acutely aware of the fact that a videotape can survive long after the people running the camera are gone - and braces for the truth to be revealed. Co-directed by experienced horror directors Jaume Balaguero and Paco Plaza, this film is remarkable in the consistency of its anxious, handheld camerawork and its ability to maintain action within an extremely limited space (a Barcelona apartment building).

The camera footage is from a local TV station camera. In it, reporter Angela (Manuela Velasco) follows firefighters to the building with her cameraman Pablo, while doing a feature on them. "This is more serious than we thought," the reporter in pigtails says with unmistakable excitement as they approach the building and see police cars outside. In the foyer of the building is a cluster of neighbours who explain that they heard an elderly woman screaming upstairs.

"Record everything," Angela whispers to unseen Pablo, clearly delighted to be getting the scoop. By the end, though, Angela and the curious neighbours will wish they had not stopped and stared.

Angela becomes indignant after the old woman upstairs sinks her teeth - unexpectedly - into a policeman's neck. "People have to see what went on in here!" she tells her cameraman, in part urging him to record the incomprehensible, shocking events, but also the authorities' baffling refusal to let anyone out. The police seal off all entrances, cut off cell phone communication and threaten - via a loudspeaker - to harm anyone who defies them. No one can go in or out - including a little girl with tonsillitis, who cannot access her antibiotics.

With realistic violence and performers trembling with fear, the viewer wonders if there is a virus on the loose or something of a supernatural element happening. If the film at times degenerates into a series of chases in and out of rooms and cuts to black, and rewinds don't always propel things forward, the final nightvision finale in the attic is worth the ticket price.

When the filmmakers - in their one intervention - play back increasingly blood-covered Angela's early whisper to Pablo to "film everything" in the final black frame, it's completely chilling. It also makes the viewer wonder about our love for viewing what scares and disgusts us most.

* In Spanish

Showing at Aello, Nana, Odeon Cosmopolis, Odeon Starcity, Ster (St Eleftherios), Village (The Mall, Rendi)

Deception

In a nutshell: Hugh Jackman and Ewan McGregor star in this slick, but ultimately disappointing story of elite sex clubs and mind games

ONE OF the producers of Deception says in the movie's production notes that he views it as "something of a throwback to an earlier era of filmmaking". He must be referring to the 1980s, because this feels like the kind of slick, mindless thriller Adrian Lyne used to make - for better and for worse.

For a while, it has the guilty-pleasure allure of a 9 1/2 Weeks or a Fatal Attraction, and it certainly resembles the British director's aesthetic with its handsome characters, urban setting and cool, steely grays and blues. Eventually, though, Deception collapses into such a ridiculous pile of plot twists and double crosses, that there's nothing pleasurable about it - guilty or otherwise. It tries to deceive us into thinking it makes sense.

The director, for the record, is first-timer Marcel Langenegger, who works from a script by Mark Bomback (Live Free or Die Hard). Together they've come up with one of those movies in which supposedly smart people do incredibly stupid things, and all you can do is stare at the screen and shake your head in disbelief.

Ewan McGregor puts on a hammy New York accent to star as Jonathan McQuarry, a lonely, naive accountant whose life consists of working late nights. While auditing an upscale law firm on one such night, he meets the mysterious Wyatt Bose (Hugh Jackman), a lawyer at the firm who saunters into the conference room where Jonathan is working and, in no time, offers to share a joint with him. It all happens so quickly and out of nowhere, you'd be excused for thinking the reels have been mixed up and you've started at the middle. (Wyatt is good enough, though, to explain to Jonathan upon introducing himself, "We met before in the can." Thanks for that.)

Wyatt is suave, moneyed and confident - everything Jonathan isn't, which fascinates him. The two are soon playing tennis by day and prowling for women by night (though the vaguely homoerotic vibe is unmistakable). One day, they "accidentally" swap cell phones while dashing off after a lunch. Then Wyatt's phone starts ringing, and when Jonathan picks it up he hears the same greeting over and over: "Are you free tonight?"

Turns out this is code - it's the way members of The List, an exclusive executive sex club, initiate meetings with each other. Intrigued by the female voice on the other end of the phone, Jonathan shows up at the Dylan Hotel at the scheduled time and has an anonymous romp with a gorgeous blonde (Natasha Henstridge). With Wyatt out of town, Jonathan now feels emboldened to embark on a string of flings with the women whose numbers he finds in his contact list, including Charlotte Rampling, who briefly classes up the proceedings, though her presence here is baffling.

Michelle Williams and Ewan McGregor

If nothing else Deception does offer an impressive array of sexy lingerie. And it is sort of fun to watch Jonathan come out of his shell and into his own through these various encounters, especially if you can keep your brain from wandering toward such thoughts as: Are these people using a condom? Does The List screen for STDs? And how is it that someone with Hugh Jackman's gorgeous looks needs to be a member of a club to find a sex partner in New York City?

Anyway, there's one woman during all these escapades who knocks Jonathan on his butt, literally and figuratively. She will only divulge that her name begins with the letter S, and she's played Michelle Williams, all glammed up in hair extensions and high heels to look like Gwyneth Paltrow. But, of course, S is not who she seems to be, and - surprise! - neither is Wyatt, if that's even his real name.

We won't give away the details of the deadly scheme that's driving Deception, but suffice it to say, Jackman gets snarlier as the movie builds toward its over-the-top conclusion, hissing generic threats like, "You have no idea what I'm capable of."

Jackman, who serves as one of the film's producers, also has the impossibly uncanny ability to be everywhere, all the time. If he's so crafty, couldn't he have figured out what a dog this would be ahead of time, and said no?

(Christy Lemire, Associated Press)

Showing at Aigli, Amidas, Artemis Dimotikos, Chloe, Cine Galatsi, Glyfada, Laoura, Margarita, Odeon Avana, Odeon Cosmopolis, Odeon Starcity, Orfeas, Ster (Ilion, St Eleftherios), Varkiza, Village (The Mall, Rendi, Faliro)

PALESTINIAN widow Salma (Hiam Abbass) refuses to let the Israeli military destroy the West Bank border lemon grove that her father left her in this human tale directed by Israeli director Eran Riklis. In the film, the Israeli defence minister (Doron Tavory) moves into a house bordering the grove and determines that the trees are a security threat. "The security of Israel is threatened and you discuss lemons?" the powers tell Salma, as she takes her case to the Supreme Court. Along the way, the middle-aged woman becomes closer to her lawyer (Ali Suliman) and forges a silent connection with the minister's wife (Rona Lipaz-Michael). The Hollywood Reporter lauded it, noting: "Its universal story of a stubborn individual who resists powerful forces and the two lonely women who connect as a result will resonate with grown-up audiences everywhere."

* In Arabic and Hebrew (Etz Limon)

Showing at Psiri, Athinea

Love Songs

(Drama/Musical/France/100 minutes)

THE ACTORS do their own singing in this Parisian romance set to the music of composer Alex Beaupain. Shot as a classic musical, the film is directed by auteur Christophe Honore (Inside Paris). The story - divided into segments entitled The Departure, The Absence and The Return - begins with a menage a trois. Couple Ismael (Louis Garrel) and Julie (Ludivine Sagnier) share a bed with Alice (Clotilde Hesme), though not everyone is pleased by the arrangement. When Julie dies, the film shifts into one about the different ways of dealing with mourning. Also with Chiara Mastroianni as Julie's sister.

* In French (Les Chansons d'amour)

Showing at Ecran, Flery

A Girl Cut in Two

(Drama/France/ Germany/115 minutes)

VETERAN Claude Chabrol focuses on a woman caught between two lovers. Perky weather girl Gabrielle (Ludivine Sagnier) falls in love with author Charles (Francois Berleand), though spoiled heir Paul (Benoit Magimel) insists that she be his. "I'm unaccustomed to not getting what I want! " the nail-biting golden boy declares when she chooses podgy Charles instead. The film makes light of the illogical nature of romance and paints caricatures of many different social "types" (including Paul's icy mother). Sometimes there's a childish sense of humour at work, like when Gabrielle drops Paul the minute Charles sends her a bouquet with a card reading only, "Come, Charles". But often the dialogue-heavy film feels like it's for members of Chabrol's club only.

* In French (La Fille coupee en deux)

Showing at Boboniera, Dexameni, Filothei

ATHENS NEWS , 27/06/2008, page: A34
Article code: C13293A341