EXTREMELY MILD SPOILERS - I don't give away much of anything, but looking at the fine print of the user-agreement leads me to this.
I've often made the argument that a film doesn't have to be "likable" to be good. This is great example.
This film has some extremely positive qualities. The acting is rather strong from what will most likely be complete unknowns(to American audiences anyway) - even though the lead male looks exactly like Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Javier Bardem... and his acting chops don't suffer much like you might expect given the comparison physically either... even though, let's be honest, nobody stands up well to Bardem.
"The DOuble Hour" also has as many twists as the top of a coat-hanger, and the audience is likely to guess and likely to be wrong on almost all of them. In hind-site, the twists actually make decent sense and add a nice depth and intrigue post-viewing.
Another impressive quality was in some of the cinematography and sound that really added to the "thrilling" nature of the film. I don't think it's spoiling much because these are just subtle tricks that some of the film-makers incorporated - so I'll mention a few.
There's one moment where a character feels like someone is watching over them, and there's just a sliver of color down the left bottom corner of the screen, and only for a split-second - it's a really well-done shot.
Another 'similar' scene is showing the same character in a similar position in bed, suffering the same phobia, picturing/dreaming themselves alone and then with their partner back-and-forth, and one quick shot in the middle of the character being shown alone(in one of the quick flashes), incorporates three hands near her face and it is also an extremely nice touch. Just another that kind-of separates this from your slightly above average foreign thriller.
Yet another occurs in a bathtub, and that scene has nice visuals(although they've been done before in similar scenes), AND each of these three shots uses some nice audio tricks.
I'll compare this to another foreign thriller that I watched on the same day in case you've seen it. I also ranked "the Hidden Face" a 7(67/100), but I would say "the Double Hour" here is about as strong of a 7(74.4/100) as possible. This is a clear notch above even though they score the same on IMDb for me.
Given the number one reason the film will get sub-par ratings is the genre-bending nature of the story and the unlikable characters themselves - the film actually covers it's bases quite well, and their actions fit their characters back-story to-a-tea. There's little to no problems with plausibility(or the ending) here, but people don't like to be wrong.
I'd assume that will be the number one criticism of this film, and I believe it to be unjustified. This film has quite literally grown on me every hour since viewing it.
Recommended.
You'll like this if you liked: Headhunters(better), The Hidden Face(not as good), or Point Blank(not as good).
Thanks for reading.
I've often made the argument that a film doesn't have to be "likable" to be good. This is great example.
This film has some extremely positive qualities. The acting is rather strong from what will most likely be complete unknowns(to American audiences anyway) - even though the lead male looks exactly like Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Javier Bardem... and his acting chops don't suffer much like you might expect given the comparison physically either... even though, let's be honest, nobody stands up well to Bardem.
"The DOuble Hour" also has as many twists as the top of a coat-hanger, and the audience is likely to guess and likely to be wrong on almost all of them. In hind-site, the twists actually make decent sense and add a nice depth and intrigue post-viewing.
Another impressive quality was in some of the cinematography and sound that really added to the "thrilling" nature of the film. I don't think it's spoiling much because these are just subtle tricks that some of the film-makers incorporated - so I'll mention a few.
There's one moment where a character feels like someone is watching over them, and there's just a sliver of color down the left bottom corner of the screen, and only for a split-second - it's a really well-done shot.
Another 'similar' scene is showing the same character in a similar position in bed, suffering the same phobia, picturing/dreaming themselves alone and then with their partner back-and-forth, and one quick shot in the middle of the character being shown alone(in one of the quick flashes), incorporates three hands near her face and it is also an extremely nice touch. Just another that kind-of separates this from your slightly above average foreign thriller.
Yet another occurs in a bathtub, and that scene has nice visuals(although they've been done before in similar scenes), AND each of these three shots uses some nice audio tricks.
I'll compare this to another foreign thriller that I watched on the same day in case you've seen it. I also ranked "the Hidden Face" a 7(67/100), but I would say "the Double Hour" here is about as strong of a 7(74.4/100) as possible. This is a clear notch above even though they score the same on IMDb for me.
Given the number one reason the film will get sub-par ratings is the genre-bending nature of the story and the unlikable characters themselves - the film actually covers it's bases quite well, and their actions fit their characters back-story to-a-tea. There's little to no problems with plausibility(or the ending) here, but people don't like to be wrong.
I'd assume that will be the number one criticism of this film, and I believe it to be unjustified. This film has quite literally grown on me every hour since viewing it.
Recommended.
You'll like this if you liked: Headhunters(better), The Hidden Face(not as good), or Point Blank(not as good).
Thanks for reading.