The man named Nacho makes his English language debut with Open Windows, an impressive thriller that darts along in one take, completely on computer screens. Consider it Rear Window for the techn age, only with Nacho Vigalondo pushing Jimmy Stewart down a flight of stairs in his wheelchair. What starts out as a voyeuristic suspense film quickly transforms into a balls-out action game of cat and mouse.
As Erik Myers pointed out in his review back in April, Nacho strongly depends on us suspending our disbelief as one ridiculous hacking trick is piled on top of another. It’s best to just look past the silliness of the incredulous, eye-rolling technology and simply enjoy the ride, because Nacho has crafted one striking and satisfying film.
Elijah Wood, who’s been killin’ it in genre films lately (Maniac, Grand Piano), stars as Nick Chambers, the naive webmaster of a fan blog dedicated to popular actress Jill Goddard. She’s played by porn star turned mainstream actress Sasha Grey (Butt Sex Bonanza), who is very good at looking like she’s disappointed in you. Nick believes he’s the lucky winner of a contest granting him dinner with Jill, but on the night he’s set to collect his prize, he gets a phone call from a British man named Chord (Neil Maskell – Kill List), explaining Jill has cancelled the contest…and wouldn’t he like to make her pay for that?
Nick Chambers is the perfect fall guy for Chord’s wicked plan. A real sucker. That one phone call sends him spiraling into a dizzying world of international computer hackers, surveillance excess, and one set piece of mayhem after another. This is Nacho in Timecrimes mode again, throwing curveballs at us every few minutes and using genre tropes to create his own twisted vision of paranoia.
Elijah Wood walks the tightrope between obsessive, but guileless fan and creepy stalker. He’s not the kinda guy who feels comfortable peeping on his dream girl as she undresses, he’s content admiring from afar. Sasha Grey does an admirable job as the “it-girl” navigating fans and love behind the camera. Her performance is essentially made up of acting dismissive and being anguished, and Grey does a fine job of portraying both. As the shadowy Chord, Neil Maskell relies 99 percent on his dastardly British villain voice to be effective. Hell, it works.
The on bit I did not like in Open Windows is the ending. I won’t spoil anything, but there is a small sense of preachiness involved that felt out of place at the conclusion of such a white-knuckle thrill ride. Did Nacho feel compelled to deliver some kind of message in the end? I’m not sure, but there is a hint of one and it didn’t really work for me.
Aside from that small hiccup at the end, Open Windows is Nacho’s most ambitious film yet. Like I mentioned earlier, part of the film’s success depends on the audience looking past the absolutely insane technology that is presented with little or no explanation. Do that and you’ll be assaulted with a stream of razor-sharp twists, blackmail, deceit, and damn near ceaseless suspense. The leaps Nacho has made with just three features under his belt is really, really exciting.