Hours

A film set in a hospital. Nolan comes to a hospital in New Orleans with his wife. The birth is early and difficult; she cannot be saved. The baby lives but cannot breathe on her own and is put on a ventilator. A hurricane hits the city the same day. The hospital is evacuated, the staff leave and the power goes. The machine's backup battery lasts three minutes; after that it has to be charged with a hand-cranked generator. From there the film becomes an arithmetic of time. Nolan cannot leave the machine, and he has to leave it to look for water, food and help. Every trip is limited to three minutes. The narrative runs almost entirely on one performer. Nolan talks to the baby, remembers his wife and does the sums out loud. Outside, the city is under water, and the people who get into the building may not have come to help. Paul Walker plays Nolan. It is one of the films released shortly after the actor's death. Eric Heisserer directed and wrote it; he is known mostly for his screenplays and this is his first film as director. A production that does its job for anyone who likes confined-space tension and one-person narratives. Before you watch, know this: the film is built on an infant's struggle to survive and holds its tension at the same point throughout.