Loft (2008)

Full of twists & turns from start to finish, Loft concerns a group of 5 friends, all of them married, who share the ownership of a secret loft together where they meet their mistresses. One day, they find a woman's dead body lying in the room but there are only 5 keys to the apartment, meaning that one of them is probably involved in what appears to be a cold-blooded murder. And thus begins the blame game where each person begins suspecting the other one of committing the crime & collectively try to solve the mystery before police come knocking at the door.Directed by Erik Van Looy, the film smartly intertwines present with flashbacks to give viewers the backstory of each of its characters & create fresh doubts in their minds about who could be the real suspect among these. The writing is equally good too as each character is presented in a grey shade, thus making it difficult for the viewers to converge on a single suspect until the film reveals all on its own. The acting is quite convincing by its ensemble cast, cinematography makes great use of lighting, editing is brilliantly carried out & the music is a big plus here.There is no denying that viewers will try to solve this mysterious puzzle as soon as the film begins since no time is wasted in taking a linear approach and yet, the film will be able to surprise most of them not once but multiple times. On an overall scale, Loft is an amazing mystery thriller that is cleverly plotted, has an atmosphere of tension & suspicion from the very beginning, is perplexing but never confusing to the extent that makes the viewers reject it outright & didn't put a foot wrong until the film's third act, which is the only part that disappointed me though not majorly & will even work for most.Out of the very few Belgian films that I've seen so far, this one is arguably my new favorite as of now. And I've no problem in recommending this film to anyone for it has the charged tension of a Hitchcock thriller & really deserves a wider audience. So, give it a try before Hollywood comes up with a remake, which actually is coming out later this year, probably in August, helmed by director Van Looy only.

Vincent Stevens, the architect of a cutting edge modern building, has something to share with his good friends. He decided to convert the loft on the roof of the structure as a bachelor pad for himself and his pals, so they can have their fun in complete privacy. To that effect, when he gathers the men, he distributes one key to each one; there are no duplicates, so each person is responsible for his own key, which they must never give away, or even lend to anyone else.This exclusive sort of club includes Stevens, and his yuppie comrades. Only one of the friends is a bachelor, but that soon will change when he marries a wealthy heiress. The men are all married, although not too happily, as it turns out. The friendship among all these men are put to a test when a woman is found dead on the huge bed that dominates the apartment. All of them are in some way connected. The truth about the slaying comes out as all the men are questioned by the police. Anyone of this group could have committed the crime, yet nothing is clear in the narrative until the surprise ending.Eric Von Looy, the director of "Loft" has explored the kind of people at the center of the film before with his "Yuppies". This new venture proves Mr. Von Looy is a director with a great visual style in the way he presents the story about loyalty and betrayal. This film should be seen by a wider audience. We were lucky to have found a copy of this Belgian film, but we don't think it had a commercial run that we know of.The director gets great acting from all the principals, Koen De Bouw, Filip Peeters, Matthias Schoenaerts, Bruno Vanden Broucken, and Koen De Graeve are all excellent as the friends that share the loft. Veerle Baetens is fine as well as Ann. Marie Vinck, who plays Sarah Delporte, impressed with her take on her character.Of course, Mr. Von Looy was lucky in working with the fine Danny Elsen, a good cameraman that captures all the nuances of the action in vivid detail. Wolfman De Marco's contributed the soundtrack that plays well with the narrative. We shall be looking forward the next project of this talented director, and so will be the lucky viewers of his films.

Loft has great casting, solid photography, and locations straight out of an interior design magazine. But there is little below that spectacular surface.Most of the movie is spent illustrating a version of the upper strata life that caters to the Flemish inferiority syndrome. Resplendent garden parties, model-studded casinos, incredibly hip interiors, expensive call girls and shady business trips mix to create a capitalist version of the good life.Against this background five friends shout their way through meaningless affairs, plotting and counter-plotting. There's no time for character to show, let alone develop. Few of the characters are really likable; the men are sexist bastards save for a repressed slob, the women in the plot get little screen time and spend that being sex objects or sharp-tongued hags of wives.In short, the movie piles on the clichés, and so it's exhaustive location scouting delivers the death-stroke. A little bit of grime might have saved this movie. Instead it's magazine people living in a magazine world.

Loft, yet another masterpiece sets its roots in Flemish movie history.10 thumbs up for brilliant directing from Erik Van Looy, who proves himself once more as one of Belgians greatest directors! And let's not forget about the wonderful screenplay written down by Bart De Pauw, to whom i've been a fan of since "Buiten de Zone".Everyone already knows the setting of 'Loft'... 5 guys share a loft to bring their mistresses to without their wives knowing. But like all happy songs, this doesn't last long. Pop quiz hotshot, what would you do if you find a dead woman in the loft one morning ?? What would you do ?I'm not giving anything away about this movie, cause this would ruin the experience... but I'll just say that you will be amazed about the ingenious plot turns that this movie takes... you think one think, it goes another way , etc.The reminds very much of "The Usual Suspects" in a way, and it deserves this praise!Of course, for Belgian standards, this is top of the line cinema. You cannot go any better than this. Overall it's a lot better than Erik Van Looy's previous movie : 'De Zaak Alzheimer' although here you don't have the acting one man show that 'Jan Decleir' gave in that one.Matthias Schoenaerts and Bruno Vanden Broucke show their talent in this one, as does Filip Peeters.If go for International standards, this is still one of the better movies that you can go see in the theater. But for it to be totally perfect, it does has some flaws.. which are, realism.. some things happen so fast that don't think it's realistic anymore. Sometimes the acting is a bit off, but that negligible...Overall, this is a great a movie and hope it will make the trip abroad to the states or what not, so it can be acknowledged by everyone !!Best regards,Raf