In 'Double Hour,' the timing is good

"The Double Hour" ("La doppia ora") is the opposite of one of those movies that saves the big juicy twist for the end. Instead, Giuseppe Capotondi's debut feature liberally sprinkles the "Wait, did that really just happen?" moments throughout. It's an interesting experiment in Capotondi's case, propelling the film forward while intentionally disjointing the plot.

Sonia (Russian actress Ksenia Rappoport, who is no stranger to Italian cinema) is a Balkan immigrant who works as a maid in Turin, Italy. At a speed-dating event (a dour version of Steve Carell's situation in "The 40-Year-Old Virgin"), she meets ex-cop/alcoholic and wounded widower Guido (Filippo Timi), who seems one more anonymous sexual experience away from crawling inside of a bottle and staying there.

Their burgeoning romance is fractured when the palatial estate Guido guards is robbed by a band of ski-masked professionals, with the couple caught in the crosshairs. As the plot continues to unfold and information is unloaded, Sonia and Guido's relationship takes on a more sinister tone.

But then the plot twists.

And twists again.

The title of the film derives from the superstition surrounding the phenomenom when the time is the same number on both sides of the colon - like 11:11 - as if those times of day posses some sort of magical quality. The theme pervades throughout, but instead of whimsy, it provides a haunting quality that follows its main characters.

Capotondi - making the move from commercials and music videos (Keane, Kelis) - is adept at creating a sense of supernatural paranoia. He uses security cameras and shotgun microphones to give "The Double Hour" an eerier quality that a director with a lesser hand might have forgone because of the already-complex plot. But "The Double Hour" feels like Capotondi's making two different thrillers with only a tenuous connection between the two. Still, the parts that make up the whole prove gratifying.

Holding "The Double Hour" together are the performances of Rappoport and Timi. They ground the movie's central romance in realism. Timi commanded the screen as Benito Mussolini and his son in the excellent "Vincere," with a force of chaotic abandon befitting Il Duce. Here, Timi, matched by Rappoport, tones down the histrionics, turning in serene and, at times, heartbreaking performances. Timi and Rappoport allow their characters to linger on each other and, in turn, linger on you.