Everybody has a Hollywood dream inside of them from time to time. For troubled young female Sarah, the ideal Hollywood apartment seems to be part of the deal.

In the brand-new independent Dark Sky Digital film release 1BR, written and directed by David Marmor, Sarah (Nicole Brydon Bloom) moves with a lovable cat called Giles into what seems to be an idyllic Hollywood apartment block community, with everyone seemingly welcome. However, she has not observed the rules and it is clear that she shouldn’t have brought cuddly Giles into the mix.

A barbecue and dinner party are tantalising and inviting for her as she attempts in interact with her new neighbours, but she has the problem of her own dysfunctional family who want her to return to make things right again. Before long, the real truth and identity of her neighbours is revealed – and she has to find a way to survive….

Fans of films like MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE and the Oscar-winning GET OUT will tap easily into this very powerful and at times tough film, with good performances led from the front by Bloom. It has a familiar sense of commentary about the purposes of society and conditioning into places where there is nothing more than a desire to fit in at the heart, something which is very prevalent during one of the most challenging times in our world.

That said, the concept of mind games and psychological choice has been explored as far back as when Alex underwent the Ludovico Treatment in Stanley Kubrick’s A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971). Whilst there is a more restrained sense about the violence on occasion here compared to the opening twenty-minute rampage in that film, the effect is still pretty startling here.

It remains a disturbing experience and nobody regardless of their own problems should be subjected to what Sarah has to go through. Ultimately, as adults, it remains a human right to decide the best course of action – and backtrack if we don’t feel right about it. However, in terms of film-making ideas, it is something narrative has to fulfil as much as possible.

1BR has a stable, intelligent air about it and does what it sets out to do, establishing a true air of paranoia about it as much as some of the films of the past from the 1950s and 1970s did back in the day.

1BR arrives on Digital 24th

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1BR

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Film and TV Journalist Follow: @Higgins99John Follow: @filmandtvnow