4:30 (2005)

Synopsis [spoilers]: A boy of 11 lives with a foreign 30-something man in an apartment. The man is a tenant of his mother's and practically a stranger to the boy; she is away on business in another country and the boy clings to the man as a sort of father figure, spying on him constantly, prying into his belongings and occasionally stealing. The man is a living wreck and seems to have his mind set on suicide. The boy isn't very healthy himself, having developed the dangerous habit of cough syrup, which causes him to pass out; aside from that, he seems especially fond of disrupting a tai chi chuan class in the park by turning off the music and then darting away. One day the tenant vanishes and the boy finds himself alone. He starts painting the window panes black.

Appraisal: Extremely slow-paced character study, bleak as hell and not really all that interesting.

Rating: 33