A man finds himself trapped in a room with no way out in director Nicolai Schümann’s thriller. Here’s our The Lonely Musketeer review.
In director Nicolai Schümann’s The Lonely Musketeer, Rupert (Edward Hogg) wakes up in a room with no way out. He has no clue how he got there, at first thinking it might have been the result of a particularly wild night out. Then things begin to get very serious when he realises there really is no way out and no one knows where he is.
All Rupert has is his trusty Nokia 3310 phone, revealing the film to be somewhat of a period piece. Thankfully, the Nokia 3310’s battery would last for days rather than mere hours like this writer’s iPhone. It’s his one connection to the outside world and his only way of getting help. Unfortunately, it also connects him to the person who put him in the room and their devastating plan soon starts to unfold.
It’s a pretty classic set-up, a closed-box mystery, but Schümann is more interested in the metaphors the situation offers than Rupert’s efforts of getting out. It quickly becomes clear that not only is Rupert a prisoner in the room, he’s also trapped by his past mistakes and memories that come back to haunt him. The film doesn’t necessarily say anything new about guilt or trauma, but it does deliver its message with style.
For most of the film’s 90 minute runtime, Hogg is the only face on screen. Several other actors lend their voices, but Hogg carries the story on his shoulders. His performance is bold and compelling as he keeps us questioning whether we should root for Rupert at all. It’s an audacious decision on the director’s part to take such a risk with their first feature, but it pays off well and The Lonely Musketeer is a fascinating film.
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Schümann shoots the feature in striking monochrome, although the film’s themes and message are anything but black and white. Its boxy aspect ratio also adds to the general sense of claustrophobia, and while The Lonely Musketeer certainly isn’t a horror, it occasionally tips into the kind of suffocating atmosphere that makes many scary movies… well, scary. It doesn’t quite reach the stress levels of film such as Buried or Alexandre Aja’s Oxygen, but this is a film more interested in its themes than plot developments.
Due to the story’s form, it might have packed a slightly bigger punch as a short film. The tension tends to come and go, but at its best, The Lonely Musketeer is undeniably gripping. Some of the scenes get a little repetitive, but it finds a new groove in the final act where things get particularly interesting. Even if you can see the ending coming from a mile away, it’s handled well by Schümann and his team.
The Lonely Musketeer is a hell of a debut. It’s flawed for sure, but it’s also bold in its voice and style. It announces Schümann as an exciting talent to watch and if this is the starting point, we’re in for some good stuff.
The Lonely Musketeer currently has no release date. It’s an independent movie, and we like championing interesting independent movies like this one. If you’ve got one you want coverage for, email hello at filmstories dot co dot uk.
