One Point O (2004)

How sad is this?

Excellent but underrated film

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

I always find these forays into low budget film-making initially fascinating. They always draw me into the story and then lead me a merry dance. With One Point 0 however I'm convincing myself this is Angel Heart, and what Phiam is seeing is only the inverted version of reality. Stylised shots of spiralling staircases, dark and shadowy corridors and a bleak and depressing dystopia all enforce the parody. And as much as Harry Angel must move from person to person to piece the puzzle of the case, so must Phiam move from room to room to piece together the mystery of the packages.The problem is, the moving around seeking answers from the unknown has already been done much more skilfully, such as Aaronovich's Pi or Natali's Cube. In many instances the poorer relations soon begin to lose the plot as the directors struggle to stretch out the feature- lengthiness; such as a pointless sexual encounter. Where Channel 4 succeeded in presenting new directors or intriguing screenplay is they allowed the director immense freedom, admittedly on very little budget, but the film ran to its natural length, without obstacles complicating the film's horizon. There is far too much in this film that is unnecessary and much that is unexplained. But I suppose the directors were more concerned about producing a feature film rather than a lasting impression.

Paranoia 1.0 portrayed a not-so-distant future of isolation and corruption. Our protagonist - Simon J - suffers from the very beginning and his deteriorating state grows exponentially by the end. There is a clever gimmick behind his "sickness" which I can agree to be plausible.This cinematic adventure's strengths are not in the casting, but in a grim atmosphere that entices the viewer with a special peek into the world of a paranoid being. This is done exceedingly well and I give much respect to the set designers. Overall, 1.0 is a look into what corporate power may one day be able to exact upon the masses, in ever evolving, technologically proficient world.

Kara Unger co-stars, and that's always good. But this film basically throws away everything it works so hard to achieve. The first 30 minutes or so are fairly engrossing (in a "Dark City", "Matrix", "Strange Days" sort of way) and the settings and characters are intriguing. Then things start to go down the tubes.*****SPOILER ALERT If you are watching the action fairly closely, you will see the entire plot of the movie foreshadowed at least three times in the first ten minutes. I kept expecting that the movie would end with some sort of surprise, but it didn't. This complete lack of suspense contributed significantly to my lack of enjoyment.*****END SPOILER Eventually, the art-house pretentiousness just wears you down. The plot has a few high points and there's a little bit of titillation, but not much else to keep your interest past the halfway point. By the one-hour mark, I just didn't care about any of the characters and (since I knew what the underlying plot point was) I just sort of gave up.To give the director and crew some due, the film definitely has a "look" that belies the small budget. The apartment house is suitably odd, as are all the tenants. Sisto does a good job with what he's given.Still, I thought this would be more worthwhile than it was.

Maybe just another conspiracy theory movie, this one is particularly special, because would be the first one to deal with publicity and marketing issues. I study communication and the theories the movie presents are no crazier or more neurotic than Baudrillard's, who is considered one of the communication post-modernist masters. Brainwashing is an old topic? Perhaps, but having the possibility of giving wings to our own doubts on how much visual propaganda and subliminal ads lead us, is quite interesting. Maybe it is not so surreal if you really go beyond the lack of story and holes in the plot. Catch the overview criticism the movies makes and we'll realize the facts which the film brings are not that impossible, or they won't exist only in the future. Minimize and rationalize their paranoia, get the symbolisms and metaphors and maybe the movie is based on the real media. Interesting movie. Don't take it literally though, otherwise it will obviously be another paranoia movie and nothing else.