First of all, I must say I really enjoyed this movie. This is a very good character study, and this movie builds tension and suspense quite masterfully. My major problem with it is that starting from the bar scene most of her actions make no sense. There's clearly an increased potential for danger in the dead of night during a blackout, so why she so stubbornly refused the accompaniment home is strange. I get that she felt rejected after being so forward with Benny, but he didn't exactly say no to sex, so much as 'let's call it a night.' The night would've ended the same way if he'd said yes anyways. She was obviously way too drunk to be by herself too. In this case, while his actions are creepy, in a way he did the right thing by making sure she got home okay. The scene where she's talking to herself doesn't make sense without context. Is she schizophrenic? Was that the pill she was spit out? If so, why smoke weed to make the hallucinations even worse?
Throughout she continuously leaves the door unlocked, often locking it only after something weird happens. She keeps the window to the fire escape open, and keeps leaving the room to peer into the darkness, away from the safety of her home. She even abandons her flashlight because she can't see the bottom three stairs. The entire scene on the fire escape is stupid. It's like she's intentionally making herself as vulnerable as possible. Also, how does a grown woman not understand power outages? She let out all the cold air in her fridge and tried to connect to the internet.
I do like the ending, and her realization of events. I find her fear and disgust for her male neighbor realistic and saddening. Only in the end does she laugh and realize how similar they were. It gets a 6.5 from me.
P.S. I didn't see any undercurrents alluding to rape, but maybe I missed them. Any past trauma could've led to her behavior, so I'm leaning towards abuse. I just saw it all as depression and self-harming.
Throughout she continuously leaves the door unlocked, often locking it only after something weird happens. She keeps the window to the fire escape open, and keeps leaving the room to peer into the darkness, away from the safety of her home. She even abandons her flashlight because she can't see the bottom three stairs. The entire scene on the fire escape is stupid. It's like she's intentionally making herself as vulnerable as possible. Also, how does a grown woman not understand power outages? She let out all the cold air in her fridge and tried to connect to the internet.
I do like the ending, and her realization of events. I find her fear and disgust for her male neighbor realistic and saddening. Only in the end does she laugh and realize how similar they were. It gets a 6.5 from me.
P.S. I didn't see any undercurrents alluding to rape, but maybe I missed them. Any past trauma could've led to her behavior, so I'm leaning towards abuse. I just saw it all as depression and self-harming.