Review: Between Floors

Between Floors

Comedy/Drama

Academic Complex

14 April 2010

This film tells the story of five sets of characters, all stuck in elevators due to a power outage. In one elevator, there is a young man who is filming himself and is trying not to light a cigarette. Another has a man who is slowly beginning to loose his mind, by himself, as he is filmed through a camera inside the elevator (no sound). Next, we have an upper-class white family, with a completely self-indulgent mother, an apathetic father, and a near-mute daughter. The fourth is jam packed with roughly 12 people, who are desperately struggling to survive in such a closed space. And finally, we have two friends (one in a monkey suit) who have just gotten in a physical dispute over a woman. The film revolves around these diverse characters, slowly building up the tension and emotion as they sit in these confined spaces. Some seek redemption, some attempt to keep their sanity, and others come to self realizations, revealing qualities about people who they thought they knew or loved.

Unfortunately, the premise of this movie is far more intriguing than the actual movie itself. Running at 90 minutes long, I would have to say that the movie was about 80 minutes too long. Harsh, right? Well, what do you expect when the entire movie takes place inside elevators. It is nearly the same five repetitive shots over and over and over... without any change in scenery or any music to maintain interest. This would have made for a good short film, but a feature length is ridiculous. I literally felt as though I was trapped inside an elevator for 90 minutes, wanting to rip my hair out and scream like many of our fellow characters. For this movie to have succeeded would have required a top-notch screenplay and some incredible acting. But, it did not, and it suffered greatly from this. The film presented itself as a comedy/drama, but the dialogue was not funny enough to keep the audience interested, nor dramatic enough to make the audience sympathetic or strike any type of emotional cord. However, I will say that the story of the wife, husband, and daughter was by far the best because it actually had a plot. The rest of the stories seemed to be merely filler. I amend the director for attempting such a difficult task, but unfortunately, she was unsuccessful. Walking in, I felt optimistic and said to myself "there really could be something here"; when I walked out, I left with nothing.