YOU BELONG TO ME

Jeffrey (Daniel Sauli) is enjoying a spot of morning glory with French lover Rene (Julien Lucas), when his flatmate Nicki (Heather Simms) returns early with their dog Max. Rene quickly dresses and leaves, ignoring Jeffrey's pleas to see him again.

Put out by his flatmate's intrusion and Rene's lack of interest in him beyond the bedroom, Jeffrey goes off in a sulk, taking Max with him. While walking Max, Jeffrey spies Rene with boyfriend Robert (Duane Boutte) and follows them gingerly. He observes as they retire into an apartment block then carefully moves closer to inspect the outside of the building.

While Jeffrey peers through the window, landlady Gladys (Patti D'Arbanville) sneaks up on him and ingratiates herself, asking if he's come to view the vacant apartment. On the spot, Jeffrey says yes and is welcomed in.

Although it seems odd to him that the previous tenant left behind clothes, jewellery and even medicine in the bathroom cabinet, Jeffrey's obsession with Rene - and his anger at Nicki - compels him to take the apartment. After all, as an architect he can see lots of potential in the spacious building, and Gladys appears to be extremely accommodating.

So Jeffrey moves in with Max, and sets about decorating the place to make it his own. One major concern he has is with the rotting floorboards in his bedroom, which lie directly above Gladys' own apartment. Jeffrey is sure he can hear groans coming from beneath the floorboards…

But he puts this to the back of his mind, instead taking in his quirky neighbours (the old man searching for his wife; brutish deaf mute Stuart [Sherman Howard], making up with Nicki and surprising Rene with the revelation that he now lives in the same building as him. You can imagine how well Rene, happily living with Robert, takes this news …

Events take a turn for the more sinister when Jeffrey finally has enough of the groans coming from Gladys' place, and her increasingly odd behaviour.

After she leaves him the key to her apartment one afternoon in the hope that he'll look into decorating it for her, Jeffrey lets himself into Gladys' apartment and begins to investigate - soon wishing he hadn't bothered.

A low-key, low budget thriller in the vintage Roman Polanski mould, YOU BELONG TO ME benefits enormously from restrained screenwriting and plausible performances. D'Arbanville is a formidable foe - genuinely creepy when she's at her nicest. It's a gleeful performance, and is counter-balanced nicely by Sauli's reserved paranoia.

Howard manages to elicit sympathy and fear from what could have been a thankless role, while Lucas and Simms offer solid if insubstantial support.

The tension mounts in small doses and writer-director Sam Zalutsky never allows the atmosphere to be spoilt by uncharacteristic explosions of action. Even the violence is kept to a low-key minimum, and the film flows better for it.

Quirky characters and strings on the score, coupled with the wry script observations and theme of obsession, make this lean towards "Hitchcockian" territory. But in truth it lacks the wit of the master, instead better being described as a modest, economic and yet extremely satisfying thriller. It may peter out in the final moments, but don't let that put you off: this is a very accomplished film, and the anti-melodrama stance of the script works hugely in its favour.

The film is presented uncut in anamorphic 1.78:1 and looks rather good with sharp images and accurate colours. Minor motion juddering was evident earlier in the film, but this improved as the action unfolded.

The English 2.0 audio does a good job, with dialogue evenly balanced and clearly audible throughout.

The static black main menu page is striking in it's simplicity - very bold. There is no scene-selection menu, but the film does contain 4 chapter stops.

Extras begin with a chatty commentary track from writer-director-producer Sam Zalutsky and co-producer-editor Anita Gabrosek.

Zalutsky has one of those American accents that rises at the end of each line, making each sentence sound like a question. Still, he's full of beans and praises his cast enormously while speaking fluently about locations and schedules. They both agree that working with the dog (real name Celine) was the toughest part of the shoot.

We also get 8 minutes of cast and crew interviews, with the actors discussing their character's motivations and Zalutsky revealing the film's short film origins. He alludes to the original audition tapes a few times, so it's a shame these aren't offered too. This featurette is presented in full-frame and is interspersed with scenes from the film.

Finally there's a 20-minute trailer in anamorphic 1.78:1, which does a fine job of making the film look highly appetising.

Recommended.

Review by Stu Willis