The Man in the Wall (2015) Reviews

• Movie for dialogue-loving people

  felixfrey2016-06-01

  Great movie. Very dialogue-based, the whole story develops through words. This fact doesn't make the movie boring or slow but adds to its intensity, since the viewer is always forced to focus on the people in the movie. There is no escape from the human interaction here, the viewer is being left alone with the humans in the movie and their utterances, putting piece by piece together just like the protagonist herself. Almost all talks are dialogues, it's rare that there are more than two people in the room. This adds to the intensity of the interactions displayed. Well scripted! It's great to watch the movie in Hebrew with subtitles to feel the Israeli vibe more.

  More

• Rather a thriller than a drama. Everything happens in a single apartment, yet the series of visitors offer a lot of variety and also tension while we wonder what happened

  JvH482015-04-02

  I saw the world premiere of this film at the Rotterdam film festival 2015 (IFFR), where it was part of the section Bright Future – Premieres. The plot is very original, and it had a very unexpected ending too. For that reason alone, I would have added the keyword Thriller to the list of categories this film belongs to. From the outset it looks more like a drama, however, when husband Rami does not return after walking the dog, without a message or any other clue about his whereabouts or motives. His wife Shir calls several people who may know more. She also receives a series of visitors, including of course the police. Neither of these visitors is really helpful. What we witness is all contained within a single apartment, and covers the evening and most of the night after the disappearance. The tension what might have happened was maintained throughout. Also, the actors carry the proceedings performing very well. The fact that it all happens in a single apartment, is soon forgotten when things get moving. The variety of visitors also takes care that there are no boring moments during the 92 minutes running time this movie takes. In the finale when the plot unravels, all the things happening before fall in place, in other words a well constructed script. In the final Q&A the director mentioned interesting facts, and I scribbled down most of them. The whole movie is shot in 6 days and on a very low budget. There has been only one rehearsal, albeit a long and intensive one. For most scenes a single shot proved sufficient. Female characters were all very strong, contrary to the men who are much weaker on average. The latter was not intentional but merely an observation after the fact. Anyway, a strong leading lady was planned all along. The structure of the film depends on distinct scenes each time someone enters/exits the apartment, which was setup as such from the initial drawing board, which the director considers a very important aspect of this film. (*** warning *** possible spoiler ahead ***) The first draft version had an ending that was very different. Someone died in there, unlike the version we've just seen. Subsequent versions proved that this story does not need someone to die. In retrospect, the director remains convinced this is the better ending.

  More

• It reaches Pinteresque heights

  Nozz2017-11-02

  My favorite part is when two policemen appear as if straight out of Pinter-- authoritative, confusing, and scary. For a while, unsettlingly, one of them speaks from outside the frame while the face of the other reflects the tenor of the words. We can identify with the protagonist's confusion, because it's the confusion of Everyman in a situation of weakness. Already, though, the protagonist is not just a tabula rasa but has begun to exhibit behavior that limits the audience's identification with her. Maybe for that reason the script would have worked better as a stage play. Certainly the lead actress, Tamar Alkin, has proved herself on the stage as well as on the screen, and the challenges that the film takes upon itself-- a small set, and scene- long camera shots-- are typical of the stage. Some scenes are built around visitors less interesting than the policeman, and they don't manage to strike sparks. But when the mystery that runs through the movie is solved, the solution is a good one, sufficiently foreshadowed and sufficiently hard to guess, without being artificially neat.

  More

• An OK movie that might have been good

  opiaterein2018-11-27

  Incorrectly labeled a "thriller" everywhere. The tension doesn't build up, it's just there, expressed through dialogue. Dialogue-based movies often feel very slow. In this one the pacing is actually not bad, but it still feels slow. I think that's because the main character, Shir, is very difficult to like. It's kind of like, "Ugh, we're still dealing with her? Let's get on with it already." It's funny; a lot of the other characters are actually pretty likable. Not Shir. Not a bad movie, if you've got patience for a very simple plot and highly unsympathetic lead.

  More

• Poor acting, weak direction, doesn't add up

  philippe-576-5641862016-05-23

  It's a super low budget movie, but that's not where the problems lies. The story doesn't really add up and you get quickly bored of following the main character for whom, no matter how hard you try, it is hard to feel any compassion for nor understand what she is all about. The only likable character is Bruno, the dog. The wife, Shir, is either depressed or hysterical; The lover, Tommy, looks like he walked into the wrong movie; The friend, Dudi, is OK but his dialog with Shir sounds a bit off in the context of the events; The long awaited husband, Rami, would have done us all a great favour by not reappearing at all and spare us with the last 10 mins of bad acting. The only two good actors were the father and Ella, the drug dealer, Unfortunately, they only played a small part. The idea in itself is not bad. Could better actors and a different director have saved the movie? Well, isn't it what making movies is all about...

  More