cyclops_screener
Joined Jun 2011
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Reviews24
cyclops_screener's rating
Where does Apartment 7A fit into the Rosemary's Baby universe?
In Rosemary's Baby (RB) Julia Garner's character, Terry Gionoffrio, lived WITH the Castevets, not in a separate apartment. This film is obviously latching heavily onto RB and yet gets major details like this incorrect. In RB, Rosemary (played by Mia Farrow) encounters Terry while doing laundry in the apartment's creepy basement. During their conversation, Terry explains how she lives with the Castavets; how they took her in when she was drug addicted and living on the streets.
None of that is happening here and yet this film firmly wedges itself into the world of RB -- look no further than Dianne Weist caricaturing Ruth Gordon. It was an acquaintance of Minnie and Roman Castavet's lived in Apartment 7A in RB. When Mia Farrow and John Cassevetes go look at the apartment at the beginning of RB, the man showing the place to them explains that an 89 year old woman lived there. By the look of the place, it appeared she lived there for many years. The movie Apartment 7A breaks this timeline and storyline, while grasping so heavily to other elements of RB.
Even small details are overlooked like the elevators in the apartment having elevator operators in RB, but do not in Apartment 7A. It's always frustrating and disheartening to see movies that make story choices based on convenience rather than on what makes the stronger, more interesting, more compelling.
Otherwise, this movie has great production value, a strong cast. The script cannot decide if it wants to be a period piece drama or a horror movie. Any time it tiptoes toward horror, it quickly retreats never getting into the ballpark of an actual horror movie. As a drama, it's pretty dull. Strange things happen through the story but they never rise above "strange" and never get into the realm of creep or scary. Too often, movie productions are just pleased to have their cast play dress up in period clothing, hoping production value will overcome holes in the plot and problems in the writing. It never does.
In Rosemary's Baby (RB) Julia Garner's character, Terry Gionoffrio, lived WITH the Castevets, not in a separate apartment. This film is obviously latching heavily onto RB and yet gets major details like this incorrect. In RB, Rosemary (played by Mia Farrow) encounters Terry while doing laundry in the apartment's creepy basement. During their conversation, Terry explains how she lives with the Castavets; how they took her in when she was drug addicted and living on the streets.
None of that is happening here and yet this film firmly wedges itself into the world of RB -- look no further than Dianne Weist caricaturing Ruth Gordon. It was an acquaintance of Minnie and Roman Castavet's lived in Apartment 7A in RB. When Mia Farrow and John Cassevetes go look at the apartment at the beginning of RB, the man showing the place to them explains that an 89 year old woman lived there. By the look of the place, it appeared she lived there for many years. The movie Apartment 7A breaks this timeline and storyline, while grasping so heavily to other elements of RB.
Even small details are overlooked like the elevators in the apartment having elevator operators in RB, but do not in Apartment 7A. It's always frustrating and disheartening to see movies that make story choices based on convenience rather than on what makes the stronger, more interesting, more compelling.
Otherwise, this movie has great production value, a strong cast. The script cannot decide if it wants to be a period piece drama or a horror movie. Any time it tiptoes toward horror, it quickly retreats never getting into the ballpark of an actual horror movie. As a drama, it's pretty dull. Strange things happen through the story but they never rise above "strange" and never get into the realm of creep or scary. Too often, movie productions are just pleased to have their cast play dress up in period clothing, hoping production value will overcome holes in the plot and problems in the writing. It never does.
Helpful•11
Helpful•01
The story unfolds at its own pace. Neither lead character is particuarly compelling, but the actors do an excellent job of making the audience care about them. We get just enough back story to be intrigued. This was not meant to be Pulp Fiction or Fight Club. As subdued stories go, this was excellent. There is enough money on the line to make this story interesting. Well-written, well-directed. I would have no idea how much of an audience a film like this can hope for, but I watched a lot of movies, always looking for something different, something to show me a story in a way I haven't seen before and this fit the bill. Well done to the cast and crew. Very glad I saw this movie!
Helpful•114
