Loft (2008) Reviews

• Engaging Belgian whodunit mystery

  Davor-Blazevic-19592010-12-25

  Highly recommended Belgian movie Loft (2008), proved to be a very engaging cinematic fare about five married men renting a state-of-the-art loft apartment as a playground for their extramarital affairs and a meeting point for encounters with their mistresses, one of them, eventually, becoming an object of a crime scene, so the initial story about five "allies", plotting together, united around their common gains and benefits, evolves into exciting whodunit puzzle about five "enemies" scheming against each other, divided by their individual excuses and vindication, a group of supposed-to-be friends now going through self-exposing, eye-opening exercise, with a number of revealing-concealing, (un)intentionally deceiving, mystery building flash-backs, leading to a numerous clever twists and turns.

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• A more than worthy follow-up to 'The Memory of a Killer', reminds me of those great stylized keep you guessing thrillers of the '90s such as The Game.

  Panterken2008-10-30

  The movie takes a while to pick up steam but soon enough the director takes us on exactly the kind of roller-coaster ride we want out of a whodunit thriller. The story's very sly and just when you think you've figured it all out, it slips away from you, it's like trying to hold on to a wet bar of soap. Van Looy's greatest accomplishment is avoiding the sin most of the movies in this genre make: neglect the characters. Without losing pace, we manage to really get to know the pawns in our chess game, and as each one's motivations start to sink in, even the most unlikely become suspect. We see here assembled a who's who of Belgian stars, the dream team cast, even the smaller roles are given to top class actors (Jan Decleir). The film's lighter on it's feet than Van Looy's previous, we (on first sight) get to deal with far less tortured souls, which makes some room for humorous intervals, I fear a lot of these will get lost in translation. As in all stories, but even more so in plot-driven thrillers, the end's the most important part. It delights me that they didn't choose a ridiculous, nonsensical ending as so much postmodern thrillers shamelessly do these days. I can't give anything away of course, but I for one didn't see it coming at all and yet it adds up when you replay previous scenes in your head. Go see it, it merits national and international attention.

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• Whodunit (no spoilers)

  tom-de-wilde2008-10-24

  Storytelling is an art. If you have a decent story to tell, there's a couple of tools one can use to involve the audience in this modern crime-mystery. The creators have carefully made use of a well proportioned amount of all sort of goodies at their disposal to make the movie captivating. It stings your interest, it bites your brainwaves and in a completely natural way it wakes up the hidden private detective in the spectators mind. You're no longer watching the movie, you are in it yourself. "Loft" is a well build-up whodunit-flick, both worth your money & your time.

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• Loft - what can you expect when five men share an apartment?

  Joyce Hauchart2008-10-31

  What you can expect from this movie is a lot. First of all it's a thriller whodonit which last 2 hours. At the end of the movie you feel like is this over already??? That's a bloody good sign. And then there's a lot more... five men share a loft where they meet their fancy women (read mistresses), they all have different personalities and that's a lot to take in a movie, but they are so well pictured and so well drawn in the script(Bart De Pauw) that they all become our friends sooner or later. Then include the wives and the mistresses, it's a real challenge to think who DID it. Apart from that and without giving out any clues, it's so well acted, and the LOFT where most of the scenes are shot feels like a tremendous dangerous being. The LOFT has an extra role in this movie, believe me. This movie, as a good friend told me, is not "The Usual Suspects" but it's close... very close. I thought about this a lot and then I think of course it is not the Usual Suspects, nobody wants a remake of that movie. Loft is different but you will like the characters, not one second bores you except maybe the knife combat which takes a bit too long. I especially enjoyed the Düsseldorf bar and the Casino scene. Great cinematography. For people who enjoyed this I recommend the movie "Shades" with Mickey Rourke, I preferred this one a lot more than The Alzheimer Affair. But then, that's me...

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• Get used to Belgium and enjoy a great thriller

  wvisser-leusden2010-06-18

  Although 'Loft's purely Belgian outlook and atmosphere may not appeal too much to Americans, one should not be deceived by this. When looking through, it soon becomes clear that 'Loft' is a very good film. First of all, this thriller has an ingenious plot that keeps you on the tip of your seat from beginning to end. Considerable value is added by the play of an impressive number of Belgium's greatest actors and actresses. 'Loft's picturing is adequate at least, too, supporting its plot rightly by creating a tense mood. Also pretty characteristic for this film is its very Belgian pace. Relaxed and unhurried, it allows you a fair amount of time to follow all its twists & turns. The 100% Belgian 'Loft' no doubt will rank among the great films from the Low Countries. It certainly stands out in all their releases from the last ten years.

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