Product Details

• Actors: Hart Bochner, Colin Firth, Dora Bryan, Liz Smith, Fabrizio Bentivoglio
• Directors: Martin Donovan
• Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Platinum Disc
• DVD Release Date: June 29, 1999
• Run Time: 124 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00008G8N6
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #71,943 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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  Movies & TV > Art House & International > Latin American Cinema > Argentina

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
A tense psychological thriller, Apartment Zero concerns the intertwining of a loner, film buff Colin Firth (The English Patient) and his new mysterious boarder (Hart Bochner) in present-day Argentina. The new roommate is enigmatic and outgoing, befriending everyone that the poor loner could not. But Firth soon suspects a connection between his boarder's appearance and the reports of bodies in the streets murdered for political reasons.

The heart of the film lies in the increasingly bizarre relationship that develops between the two opposites, breeding the seeds of mistrust. An original and offbeat noir-type drama, the film, cowritten by David Koepp (Jurassic Park), proceeds at a slow and deliberate pace, gradually drawing the viewer deeper into the intrigue and isolation of Firth's tortured soul. Some genuinely creepy moments and an all-around macabre mystery make this film worthwhile viewing for mystery fans everywhere. --Robert Lane

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my all time faves!, June 20, 2002

By	Omni (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Apartment Zero [VHS] (VHS Tape)

What makes this film so good is how dangerous it is. It teeters on the edge of homosexuality and true friendship and at the same time casts Colin Firth as almost a damsel on the edge of madness to Hart Bochners rogue character. This movie is set in Buenos Aires and and creates a political climate, a delicate madness and an under current of so many divergent sexualities that fuel the film and keep pulling the rope taunter and taunter.
What makes this film so good is how eventually Firth's character expresses his love for a man who is a ne'erdowell and always will be. He goes to the brink of madness and violence but never of sexuality which is what twists this fikm in upon itself. Eventually it seems as if the relationship between the two becomes too fraught with peril for sex but all of there actions for each other are sexualized.
What I find interesting about this movie is that it in no way compromises its sexuality to be politically correct and instead challenges the watcher to stick with it thru a byzantine plot of identity that switches the nerd for the rogue and then the rogue for the nerd. Both men ultimately have no identity. firth's character by harsh abuse racked upon him by his family and currently dementia trapped mother and Bochner thru the way he must live for his terrorist lifestyle.
In the end Firth learns to absorb Bochner's character to have an identity and Bochner hesitates and theefore loses his own. The best movies are about things that are intangibly exchanged thru the physical world of actions representing so much more.

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Atmospheric, haunting, compelling, May 7, 2001

By	Ann Shillinglaw (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Apartment Zero [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Hollywood could never pull off a movie this hard to define. Set in Buenos Aires, it stars British Colin Firth, whom everyone is seeing stars over due to the new Bridget Jones film, and American Hart Bochner, the definition of attractive leading man if there ever was one. We need more movies with Hart Bochner's face filling the screen! When he rescues the cat on the ledge, it is movie-making magic. Bochner is a mysterious character who shows up and is taken in by Firth. While the film's ending is quite unexpected and, frankly, a little on the weird side, the flow of this film is gorgeous, careening between humanistic character study and slightly gory crime scenes. At its core, it's about a male friendship between two men who are unstable in different ways -- fascinating to watch. Why more people haven't seen this movie, I have no idea ....

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Movie, April 18, 2000

By	Greg B Raney (Washington DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Apartment Zero [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I recently watched this movie three times in a row. The acting by Colin Firth and Hart Bochner is first rate. Jack is very likeable and lures people of both sexes. The sexual chemistry between Adrian and Jack is very evident. Adrian is one of several people that Jack seduces and he just has to look at you with his beautiful blue eyes to make you want to do whatever he wants. It is a very interesting look at human nature and it shows us that you can't always judge a book by its cover. People are not always what they appear to be. The ending of the movie was very intense and somewhat surprising. Once again, you can't judge a book by its cover. I highly recommend this movie.