1BR Review

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1BR is one of the most interesting movies that I’ve watched in 2020 as I feel like it fooled me at the start and made me love it at the end. I worry that the somewhat goofy beginning of this movie will make people jump ship in the first act, but I really hope they watch it to the end, because it’s got some interesting tricks up it’s sleeve.

Synopsis

1BR is the story of Sarah, a young woman who moves to LA in order to start a new life away from her troubling family.

She finds a great apartment complex that seems strangely kind and welcoming. 

Sarah sneaks a cat into her new apartment and soon realizes that’s too much pussy for a one bedroom apartment. 

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Review

1BR is written and directed by David Marmor and stars Nicole Brydon Bloom as Sarah. This is a somewhat unique movie as it’s a bit of a bait and switch and I fear that will hurt it on a streaming platform like Netflix where people can switch to watching The Office at a moment’s notice.

Strange Start

1BR starts out as a kind of silly, jumpscare-laden spookfest – and a lot of the themes early in the movie left me laughing at what I thought to be a pitiable attempt at a story. The characters felt fake, the scenarios felt unbelievable, and I kept asking, “Yeah, but why would anyone care?”

Solid End

At ⅔’s through, 1BR threw me for a real loop as I realized the movie had played me the same way the characters had played Sarah. The start of this movie felt like a facade to me, and the end left me with a lot of respect for it.

This is really, at its core, a social commentary, or a warning tale meant to alert people to complacently accepting social movements at face value and believing it’s the right thing not to fight back. 

Parts of this movie are very similar to one of my favorite thrillers of all-time, The Invitation.

That Gas Lighting Feel

I’ve said this before, I’m a big fan of movies gaslighting me, and this one did exactly that, it played me like an instrument. I thought it was a silly little thriller and it ended up smacking me in the face with cold-hard truth. 

This is a particularly timely movie to watch right now, and one that I would recommend to anyone who enjoys a solid thriller. 

My biggest fear with 1BR is that people will turn it off before it heats up, the start seems intentionally goofy to me, and at the end I think the viewer will appreciate it.

Score

8/10

Final Recommendations

If you enjoy thrillers, or the feeling of being gaslit, this is a wonderfully strong movie for that. 1BR will age very well with time. I just hope people will make it through the somewhat silly feeling start of this movie.