Between Floors

Not much happens on the 13th floor. No loud parties,no drunken brawls,no spooky occurring,no saas bahu drama even. There are however,two strangers stuck in a lift in Luke Kenny’s debut film,13th Floor,which was screened by Zee Studio at the Oxford Bookstore this Monday. Two good-looking,young,likable people who make the prospect of getting stuck in a 8 ftx6ft cubicle quite a tempting one. The strangers (played by Purab Kohli and Sandhya Mridul) bond over shared likes,dislikes and candy bars. They don’t sweat or indulge in other embarrassing (but natural) bodily functions in their overnight stay in the lift. Instead,they channelise all their energies towards knowing each other better. Their easy camaraderie leads to confessions and more confessions and before you know it there is a lot of linen washing.

Meanwhile,the director of photography has a field day placing cameras at all possible angles of the cubicle (which actually brings some visual relief to the claustrophobic chamber drama),and the editor seems to taken a hike letting the long pauses and awkward moments roll by (which does nothing for the film).

13th Floor is an interesting venture which never really rises above its script. It has two very interesting actors who have the rare capacity to sustain the audience’s attention without any distraction for more than an hour or so. And that’s quite a big thing (think Tusshar Kapoor and Priyanka Kothari and you will know what we mean). It also has a naïve but sincere O Henryesque twist as its centre piece. But what’s not interesting is the build-up to the climax— the film lethargically trudges from one cute moment to another,thereby alienating the viewer. What Kenny needs is a sharper pair of scissors to make a taut drama out of this rambling but likable tale about urban alienation.