Review of Urbania (2000) by M M — 12 May 2014

The third act of Urbania, in which we figure out exactly why our hero has been following and obsessing about a man who definitely doesn't seem his type, packs an absolutely devastating emotional impact, as secrets come out and a character's actions suddenly come into sharp, icy focus.

It's a shame, then, that you have to wade through so much pretension and awkwardness to get there. For most of its running time, Urbania deals with one of two themes. The first is a recurring motif of urban legends, a gimmick that never seems to mesh with anything the film is about, and thankfully gets discarded along the way, even though the end effect is to make you wonder why bother with it all in the first place.

The second is a series of encounters between Charlie and various citizens of the city; while knowing the film's big reveal places a lot of that into focus, the film's intent desire to have it be a big twist ends up hurting a lot of what came before it by making it inscrutable and sometimes just confusing.

I really do love the conclusion of the movie, but I wish the rest of the film could live up to its impact.