The Man in the Wall

'The Man in the Wall' is set entirely inside one apartment. It is a very claustrophobic and contained film. There are no action sequences or acts of violence. The movie relies almost entirely on dialogue and yet it still somehow managed to have me glued to the screen. Now granted, when a film has subtitles you can't really afford to look away for fear of missing something, but this was more than that. This was a very well put together film that had me eager to learn the conclusion it had in store for me.

The film is a mystery. The mystery is set up almost instantly and then the entire movie is based around solving said mystery. Each scene in the movie introduces either one or two new characters, they interact with the lead character, a couple of hours go by and then we meet the next one or two new characters. A very basic style of story-telling, but it worked. Considering there was only one setting for the entire movie there were actually a lot of characters and because the movie was told in this format it was easy to keep track of who was who and what they meant to the story.

The only real let down for me was the ending. Without giving anything way I will simply say it left me a little unfulfilled. Mainly because it deemed a lot of what we saw during the movie to be nothing more than filler. At least in terms of reaching a resolution. Each scene did have other things going for it like giving background on the main couples history for example. Also be warned: a lot of the time subtitles disappear very quickly - be prepared to read fast. 'The Man in the Wall' is a well-acted mystery film which, had it put on the icing on the cake with a great ending, could have been something very special.

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.

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.

This movie is labeled "Thriller" here on IMDb, I saw this movie om Netflix where it even was labeled "Horror". Nothing could be more wrong. It is a Drama, nothing else. A drama where dialog is everything. And still, it's a rather lousy drama too. This movie is not a thriller nor a good drama, it's just a very slow and dull movie. It did not leave me with any other feelings than that of wasting my time.

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.