The overwhelming suspense does not detract from the moment-to-moment tension and indeed frees you to enjoy the film's technical accomplishment. The director, Massimo Coglitore, came to prominence in 2003 with your short film in 35mm ''Deadline,'' which similarly discovered new visual and stylistic possibilities. Coglitore also directed ''Uomo di carta,'' a Pirallendiano short movie and the TV movie "Noi due" a comedy love story where the look and atmosphere of that picture were so fresh, so persuasive, and so well matched that the logical instability of the story almost didn't matter. ''The elevator'' or "3 minutes" with its small cast of characters, and severe constraints on time and space, is a less grandiose undertaking. Aside from brief scenes at the beginning and the very end, the whole thing takes place on a single set in a single night. But its challenges were clearly attractive to the director, and his camera sense and assured pacing make it an above- average thriller. The director has mastered the traditional syntax of cinematic suspense: the shifting points of view, startling cuts and slow camera movements that work subliminally to fill us with dread and anxiety. But he also uses computer- assisted techniques to amplify the effects, extending what the camera can do. Vote 10!!!.

The Elevator has superb lighting, an innovative use of cinematography in only a few locations and superb acting that is able to hold your attention from the first to the last frame. It jumps right to the inciting incident within the first few minutes, and the bloody fight between the protagonist and the antagonist is heavily suspenseful until the last scene. The superb dramatic action is well synced with the careful psychological crafting of the camera shots, always giving the audience a different look of the scene, even though the characters are at the same place.James Parks and Caroline Goodall are truly amazing at their parts. Overall, The Elevator is truly remarkable for being a smaller budget feature, filmed in the United States by an Italian producer Riccardo Neri and the Italian director Massimo Coglitore.

I assumed this was a low-budget student-made film, based on the number of ratings and reviews, so I was not expecting anything good to come out of it. There were certainly moments that broke my suspension of disbelief; moments in plot that made no sense, ADR that sounded off, and brief moments of unbelievable acting, but overall, it was better than I expected.In contrast, the main cast was phenomenal, both in performance, and in recognition. Imagine my surprise to see that an international director doing his very first feature-length film roped in three world-class actors.In all honesty, it was the acting that held the entire thing together - as you may expect from a film set almost entirely in an elevator.It was definitely slow to get going, though. It wasn't until the half-way mark that the plot actually got interesting. Occasionally things would happen that offered no value to the story line, and until the forty minute mark, a lot of it felt like filler, like the movie wasn't going to be long enough, so more scenes were added.Nothing was more annoying than thinking something interesting was going to happen, only to realise that nothing was happening at all. I began to get bored after the opening sequence.That being said, if you can endure the first act, you may be pleasantly surprised by the second, as things begin to pick up the pace, and the characters really begin to develop and take on their own stories.In the end, I wasn't impressed by the actual plot, and its conclusion. It was an interesting idea, to be sure, but it made for a rather dull conclusion, when it was revealed what it's all about.Basically, I was pleasantly surprised by the film, but only because I expected a no-budget indie film.

This movie reminded me of the 1991 movie "Closet Land".Movies with a minimal amount of actors can sometimes be overwhelming with the lack of on screen charisma, but these actors are powerful enough to draw my attention for the limited amount of time they have to tell their story.What I like best about this movie is the ending leaves you with the question, "What was said in the middle of the movie?" If you had seen this in the movie theater you would have left with an unanswerable question. Classic move on the writers part, and classic movie for people that like movies.