Apartment 1BR AKA 1BR (2019)

It's interesting that 1BR has been made and released now, when the economy has taken a massive downturn, and mortgage lenders have decided not to allow people to borrow as much as they used to (due to the current corona virus weirdness plunging so many of us into the toilet, financially speaking). I am sure writer-director David Marmor couldn't predict the future, but with the central idea revolving around people doing their best to maintain a decent rental home, the value of that offered as more than anything else, it's hard not to think of this as not quite as fantastical as it may have seemed last year. It had a good festival run throughout 2019, but having it available for home rental/purchase means that many more people may discover it now. Between this and Vivarium, maybe the modern message is just telling people not to sweat it if they live in a far-from-perfect home.

Nicole Brydon Bloom plays Sarah, a young woman starting a new life in Los Angeles. She gets a lucky break when she is picked from numerous potential renters to be the new tenant in a property that seems perfect. All of her neighbours are lovely, the apartment itself is decent, and the only potential problem is the "no pets" rule, which means she has to sneak her cat in and keep it out of sight. But tenants aren't allowed to break the rules. They're not allowed to upset the perfect ambience of the residence. And there are a strict set of punitive measures in place.

The feature debut from Marmor, 1BR is impressive stuff. Technically competent throughout, Marmor also deserves a lot of praise for the way he constructs the script to make something so unbelievable seem even slightly plausible while things get worse and worse for the lead character. He populates the script with a variety of interesting characters, and the plotting provides enough intriguing details without having to stop and explain every element. It's also interesting that this shares a song with the Shallow Grave soundtrack (the wonderful "Happy Heart"), considering how that film spun a tale around a seemingly perfect tenant who ends up adding a lot of tension to the lives of the others, to say the least.

Bloom does a good job in the lead role. She's likeable enough, and her transition works well as she is manipulated and made to submit to the will of people around her. Giles Matthey and Taylor Nichols seem a bit too nice at times, during the opening scenes, which also helps to make the rest of the movie easier to believe. Alan Blumenfeld has a couple of key scenes, playing Bloom's father, Celeste Sully is a friend (enemy . . . frienemy) who comes in and out of the plot to add one or two twists, and Susan Davis stands out as the elderly and sweet Miss Stanhope. Clayton Hoff, playing Lester, is rewarded during the third act for the first hour he has to spend playing the overtly creepy guy who may or may not be as bad as he looks.

There's nothing spectacular here, but it's all very slick and constructed with a decent amount of care. This could have easily been laughable and ridiculous, and I may still have enjoyed it that way, but good on Marmor for keeping the tone just right, and for taking the main premise in a more interesting direction than expected.

7/10

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