After looking at Brian De Palma’s works, one can understand the influence that Alfred Hitchcock had on him. Similarly to ‘Power’, Vigalondo’s ‘Open Windows’ goes from Crazy to Crazy to simply bonkers. What does enable the film to be entertaining, however, is the energy and cultural currency within the narrative. It is rather silly in a good way, with the attempt made to shove in as many plot points to necessitate the viewer chasing after it rather than questioning its logic. Consider that a piece of advice. Even if you think about any of the dozen or so twists in “Open Windows,” maintaining focus can be quite challenging due to how intricate the film analysis is. The good part is, it keeps one’s interest and contains a great deal of skill. It includes a rather enticing melting pot of commentary on celebrity and hacker culture. It is utter nonsense, but glorious nonsense indeed.
Modern technology has made it easier for Nick Chambers (Elijah Wood) to follow his favorite actress Jill Goddard (Sasha Grey), the leading lady in the sci-fi action series “Dark Sky”. Nick owns a blog dedicated entirely to Jill. While Jill is at a convention in Austin, Nick is under the impression he won a blogger competition where the prize is to take Jill out to dinner. As Nick watches his idol’s most recent interview, an unknown individual named Chord (Neil Maskell) calls him. Chord is a manipulative character who, during the phone call, tells Nick that Jill has canceled dinner, but prior to that allows him to see a glimpse of her life. They watch as Jill breaks up with her boyfriend and heads to the hotel Nick is staying in. Initially, the film appears similar to “Rear Window” but then a modern twist is added, where the glass window is a smartphone instead. The viewer is introduced to a new way of voyeurism. The first act showcases the reality where celebrities are constantly under siege from fans, especially around the time the photos of many famous celebrities were hacked and released online without their consent.
Nick bursts out of his room this is how the astonishing first act ends. Chord’s demands have Nick’s laptop in such a chokehold that he starts sprinting around the house, “Open Windows” transforms from a thriller to pure unbridled insanity. The heart of the film is still located inside that laptop. Did you forget where the time frame is set? Yes; it is a staggering sequence of “open Windows.” It is a smart idea but one that poses the risk of entirely shattering, especially when Vigalondo attempts to stage a car chase, but that doesn’t work quite well. Again, this is what will make the audience definitely roll their eyes the harder one ponders it. And yet, thanks in large part to the sophisticated editing from Bernat Vilaplana, I managed to escape from believing the impossible. It is a captivating tale and movie wrapped in one so brilliant that it becomes impossible to critique. As De Palma challenged us, it is a man commanding the camera while simultaneously being aware of how absurd it all is but believing just enough to make the movie work. And “Open Windows” gets progressively more chaotic, which has always been a positive, in my opinion.
My concern comes not from those who go off the rails but from the filmmakers who claim to be extreme. ‘Open Windows’ takes this style of going off the rails to the next level. Most of the time. To maintain the bull-mad nature of the events that happened, there could have been a more believable response from the participants of this mayhem. It is hard to accept that he ever watched even a single movie, much less a man with a movie website, after watching him ignore every common sense boundary that Chord places before him in the first act. Am I the only one expecting him to have watched a Wood-produced ‘Grand Piano’ a De Palma-minded project where a voice from far away teases the hero throughout? It is a product of the plot that Nick openly accepts as much as he does. As is the fact that Jill quickly follows almost every order. They’re cogs in Vigalondo’s machine as much as Chord’s elaborate plan.
Still, with regards to the weak characters in “Open Windows”, my issues are counterbalanced by the fast pacing and more importantly the cultural commentary controversy on which Vigalondo seems to have focused as a writer. He is indulging in the period of disguise. It actually makes sense that Nick would be more inclined to trust a voice on a laptop or a computer now than he might have done ten years ago. We are all living electronically. This confluence of anonymity on the internet with an utter lack of privacy in the celebrity world makes for an interesting intersection in “Open Windows.” How many people out there don’t even want to use their real names, which makes online socializing easier, but expect to know every little detail about their favorite actress? Vigalondo stages the only kind of thriller he could in this pop culture division a mad one.
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