Review of Caché (2005) by James S — 21 Mar 2009

There's a great stand up routine that Eddie Izzard does about the difference between US and European pictures. In it he demonstrates that Foreign movies generally tend to be long scenes of people opening doors and doing not very much. It's very funny and Hidden is a case in point.

It's a cracking idea - a local celebrity and his family are menaced by anonymous video tapes and postcards, slowly being driven to the edge. Slowly is the right word for this film.

There are so many long drawn out scenes in which literally nothing happens. This starts to grate on the nerves after a while but is useful in letting yourself alleviate what gradually turns into pressing boredom by closing your eyes for a minute, safe in the knowledge that you won't have missed a thing. The film could have been a half hour shorter and would have lost nothing.

Some may feel this sacrilege to say, but you can't help but feel that a US remake would be a hall of a lot more exciting and ultimately, better.