1BR (2019)

Disclaimer: The following 1BR review was originally posted February 3, 2022 and rewritten July 22, 2025.

Spoilers for 1BR (2019) beyond this point

Aerial shots of the Los Angeles city skyline transition into a shot of a quiet apartment building lined street then focuses in on one building with a vacancy sign out front, Asilo Del Mar. Inside the complex is bustling with diverse life, neighbors chatting in a courtyard and readily helping other neighbors as they pass by, laundry being hung on fences and hands being waved in ways not characteristic for 2019. The sunlit courtyard is surrounded by walkway balconies and apartment doors that lead into the individual units where various residents walk around happily. An open house is taking place at the start of the movie and the main character, Sarah portrayed by Nicole Byron Bloom, shows up to view the available unit. She’s recently moved to LA to pursue her dream of becoming a costume designer and taking temp work at a law firm to pay her bills while she attends classes at a nearby design school. She immediately notices the security system with eyes from above that buzz her in at the front door and meets Brian, portrayed by [], who’s checking his mail in the entrance lobby.

Brian calms her fears when he brushes off the security system as only being added a few years ago and that the street is much safer now. She follows signs in the complex that lead to the open unit where she discovers over 10 other people viewing the apartment. Upon seeing she’s late to the party she turns to leave deflated but Jerry, the community manager portrayed by Taylor Nichols, stops her and tells her that the apartment isn’t first come first served. She decides to take a look around and does notice some odd marks on the wall 2 circular marks of wear about shoulder length apart but she wants to apply anyways. Jerry warns Sarah that the community is zero smoking and zero pets after she explains she came to the city to start her new life.

Back in her hotel room that night Sarah is on the phone with her dad and stepmom, her dad expressing that he doesn’t support her decision to move to LA on her own. This scene not only reveals the dynamics of her family and that her mother passed away as her dad tries to use that to guilt her into coming home but also that she has a cat and lied to Jerry. Her dad questions if she is capable of setting herself up to follow her dreams on her own and she flips the phone off, going to work at the temp agency the following day and meeting Lisa, portrayed by [], who is the opposite of Sarah. Lisa is still pursuing acting in LA while also working at the law firm and offers to introduce Sarah around, saying she knows all of the office gossip. Luckily or unluckily for Sarah she gets a call from Jerry that she’s been accepted into the unit and thus complex.

Sarah sneaks her cat in disguised as boxes but is interrupted on the way by Brian who happens to be her down the hall neighbor that admits he put in a good word with Jerry to push her application to the top of the pile. Brian also invites Sarah to the community BBQ which actually becomes a welcome party for Sarah where she officially meets more of the Asilo Del Mar residents. She officially meets the elderly woman she helped when she arrived at the complex, the reason Brian cites for recommending her. This woman, Miss Stanhope portrayed by Susan Davis, requests Sarah call her Edie by the end of the night and introduces her to Esther, portrayed by Earnestine Phillips, a doctor and her husband, Oliver portrayed by [], a lawyer. Edie accidentally calls Sarah the wrong name when she introduces her, more clues to her declining state. She meets Janice, portrayed by Naomi Grossman, Jerry’s wife, and their daughter Natalie, while Janie and her lament that most places aren’t as connected as Asilo Del Mar is at that point in time.

The other main person that Sarah meets is Lester, portrayed by [], and is immediately weary of him because he lingers in shadowy pathways donning sunglasses that are missing 1 shade. He is reading a book that he offers to Sarah and says that it changed his life at the BBQ but she politely declines. She learns that Edie is taken care of by everyone in the community because she has no family or friends and everyone agrees that LA can be an especially lonely place. So far at this point in the movie things seem good but too good and there’s a general off feeling about the kindness being shown, feeling somewhat reciprocal or expectant rather than genuine and just because. Sarah feels like her luck has run out quickly however when she is unable to fill her antidepressant prescription and loud sounds from within the walls like pipes keep her up all night.

After progressively more intense sleep deprivation and hearing from Edie and Brian that they haven’t heard the same noises at night Sarah is already on edge when she receives a note on her door that is a printed pet policy from her lease with red marker writing, “SOME PEOPLE ARE ALLERGIC YOU SELFISH BITCH!,” with no indication of who could’ve put it there. She rushes outside and everyone appears mostly normal except Lester who stares from a distance with a blank expression. Beginning to snap she turns to go and confront him but Brian stops her and interrupts to invite her to a dinner party that night that she hesitantly agrees to go to. Sarah goes to work and confides about her exhaustion to Lisa and they decide to get Thai food takeout and eat back at Sarah’s apartment. She doesn’t remember that she agreed to go to the dinner party but sees and hears it from Brian’s apartment when she gets to her floor. She warns Lisa and they try to rush by but Brian emerges and they have an awkward exchange as he insists she drop by later for dessert.

Inside her apartment Sarah realizes she forgot to apply to her program with everything going on and Lisa thinks her aversion to the apartment is crazy due to how nice it is. Sarah admits she might go home and feels that her dad could be right about everything, admitting she was a daddy’s girl up until she caught him cheating on her dying mother. Lisa encourages her to “sack up” or rather “pussy up” and keep at following her dreams, offering for the pair to get a place together and stand up for themselves. They exchange a motto that it’s their fucking lives and resolve to carry that energy going forward despite setbacks like what Sarah is facing. That night however Sarah is awoken by her fire alarm beeping and she discovers her cat, Giles, inside of it and feels it is Lester attacking her. Before she can make it out of the apartment though she’s stopped and the figure straps her to a chair, and this figure is actually Brian.

At first it feels like a Lifetime movie setup where a crazed man stalks and captures the person he’s obsessed with but Sarah gets out of the chair and escapes the apartment screaming for help. Outside she’s met with onlooking community members who seem not at all shocked to see her in that state or to see Brian chasing her. She runs into Esther’s arms, begging for help because Esther is asking what is wrong but quickly it becomes clear she is holding Sarah from running further so Brian can catch up and grab her. He tases her and drags her back into her apartment in a haze, hearing but not fully comprehending the conversation around her. Esther, Brian, and Jerry talk like Sarah isn’t there and Esther admits she feels that they rushed it with the “it” in question being the capturing of Sarah. Brian and Jerry argue that her conversation with Lisa and intentions to move made the sped up timeline necessary as to not lose Sarah. This convo confirms that everyone is in cahoots and also that they have been watching Sarah as well as carrying out some sort of plan on her.

Brian stabs her with a syringe of meds that knocks her out and she wakes up on the wooden floor of an empty white walled room. The lower set of windows are covered by wood but windows from higher up let light in with a metal heavy-duty cell door on another wall. Jerry and Brian enter through the door and inform Sarah that they’ve basically excommunicated her from every facet of her life so that no one would suspect her missing. They also play a voicemail from Lisa for her that confirms they have said something to her to make her tell Sarah to never contact her again. Driving home that she has no one they coerce Sarah to comply and place her hands on the wall, revealing the reason for the impressions on her own apartment wall. She is informed that a 2 light buzzer on the wall will indicate when she needs to assume the torturous stance against the wall and when she can rest. Her meals are served on a rolling tray passed through a latch in the door when she complies with her torture.

The first time she is left in the room in the torture stance she stares at the wall which is into the camera and resolves that she will get out of there and says, “My fucking life,” like Lisa and her had the night before. Her resolve wethers as time goes on and she’s threatened on the first day with Lester’s own missing eye, concealed by the remaining shade of his sunglasses, a consequence of not complying. Using loud music from an overhead speaker, flashing strobe lights, and long intervals of leaning against the wall they break Sarah down until she’s collapsing on the floor when the buzzer goes off. Just as she’s breaking they bring in Edie to talk to her who reasons that they feel what she was doing with her life was crazy but rather the program is breaking what they call “bad conditioning” and that it must be fixed. She begs for help but Edie recommends that she give in and states she’ll be free if she does.

Sarah continues to endure the torture on the wall and collapses from exhaustion while the buzzer is still on, proceeding to ignore demands for her to go back to the wall. Brian and Jerry come in when she won’t and Jerry points a gun at her when she requests for them to just end things. They make her put her hands back on the wall and Brian hammers a nail into the center of each one, Esther revealing similar scars on her own palm when she comes in to nurse Sarah’s wounds later on. Sarah eventually loses it and thinks her dad is breaking in to rescue her and at his pleads she rips her hands from the wall only to discover it was in her head. Esther and Brian’s back and forth confirm that Brian intended to miss important parts of Sarah’s hand and Janice leads her to the “next phase” of her program.

Rather than being free after her ordeal it is only the beginning in true cult indoctrination fashion and she goes into a polygraph test interview with Larry and Brian. They ask her to describe her sexuality and sexual experiences as examples of questions shown, displaying the invasive and likely embarrassing nature of the conversations that will likely serve as collateral if she wants to leave or go to the cops. They inform her that one of their founding community principles is openness and that none of them keep secrets. She’s at some point led around the community by Larry who dialogues about the community’s tenets and how things operate there, adapting back into the community after her torture. The scenes she sees mirror the scenes shown at the start of the movie but this time she’s in the scenes, experiencing what seemed benign and innocent in the beginning of the movie. One of the main themes of the cult is combating what they feel is selfishness from modern society and are opting to have a community focused society.

Sarah is taught about Charles Ellerby, the author of the book the cult uses as guiding text, and she starts acclimating to the cult while reading the literature. While taking lessons from Larry and Janice she learns the 4 core principles are: selflessness, openness, acceptance, and security. She admits to him and Brian that she caught her dad cheating with her mom’s hospice nurse and he called her bluff when she threatened to tell her mother, something she didn’t follow through on. Her mother died believing her father was a saint and she carries guilt for that outcome, and despite trying to adapt to the tenets she consistently fails the question if she wants to be a part of the community. They recruit her to start contributing to the community and make a point that it is essential for everyone to contribute to the greater of the group.

One might ask why she wouldn’t want to be part of the torturous community but it is quite clear in the montages of her time as part of it. On paper the community sounds utopian but in reality their version of selflessness is doing unethical things to protect the group, believing no secrets can exist because they “sow discord” and slapping members when they are perceived to have broken the core tenets, what Ellerby considered correcting “an error” that is then forgiven post-slap. During this indoctrination she is sleeping in the torture room on a mattress with blankets, gaining more creature comforts as she continues onward in the program. Due to the group believing that security is key they have placed cameras in every apartment and watch everyone, thinking people will behave better if they think they’re watched on some Big Brother type stuff.

Sarah is brought into the camera office to watch the feeds alongside Brian and other rotating community members and on those feeds they witness Edie struggling. Edie’s declining state has made her not as valuable to the community and they decide it’s time for her to die so that a new member can join that can contribute. Sarah is obviously upset and confused at the callous nature of the situation but Edie is accepting, Brian citing her deep involvement with the community that included recruitment and the welcome wagon at some points. They place a bag over her head and pump gas into it until she suffocates seemingly peacefully while holding Sarah’s hand, squeezing once more before she’s gone.

Brian then reveals that the community saved him when Sarah questions the circumstances and Edie’s passing. He says that after getting back from Iraq he felt hopeless until he found the community around 9 years ago. He reasons that the community will go to any length to make her happy if she accepts it and at her next polygraph she passes the final question that she does want to join the community. She’s blindfolded and brought out to the courtyard where the other adult community members are waiting for her to celebrate and welcome her as a full member. Before the celebration commences however there’s the run of the mill cult mutilation ritual to symbolize everlasting devotion via a brand right behind her ear. Larry welcomes her after this and she thanks him, him cockily saying he knew she’d thank him and referencing an initial conversation they had once she awoke in captivity.

The group enjoys brand cult symbol cake and chat until Larry announces they’ve found a role in the community for Sarah. She’s going to be taking Lester’s wife’s place, lamenting the loss of her and the impact it had on the community, and present Sarah to him in front of the group. Larry explains that her commitment to Edie made her a great match for Lester and that both of their commitment to the tenets would make them good parents. Earlier Sarah witnessed the school room for the children who watched Ellerby videos under Lester’s watch in desk rows. Sarah is less than pleased and very trepidatious about the scenario, hesitating to follow Lester to their apartment. He explains that her apartment was never actually her apartment and it must remain empty for new recruits, beginning to show Sarah and the audience the tactics that the cult utilizes to manipulate people.

Just as she’s going to follow Lester into the bedroom Larry barges in and tells them they have an immediate problem which turns out to be Sarah’s dad at the community. She tells him to come back later and in the interim the community moves her things back into the apartment to stage it like she has been there the whole time. They remind her of the security principle and threaten that she can either get rid of her dad so he doesn’t return or they’ll kill him to eliminate the threat he could pose to them. Her dad is let up when things are in place and they have an emotional back and forth that almost breaks Sarah out of the mental prison she’s in until she sees Brian coming out from the other room with a gun, aiming at her father’s back as they embrace.

Sarah’s dad tries to apologize but she goes scorched earth to save his life and is able to get him to leave for good. Back inside their apartment Lester reveals he’s made a space for her sewing machine and costume materials in the walk in closet and she shows she’s willing to make everything work once he reveals he’s not a creep at all. Lester admits he also struggled with being there despite being a very loyal member who carries out the group’s bidding until that point. Quickly another vacancy is listed and the apartment that Sarah formerly occupied goes through the process but this time Sarah sees behind the curtain. They are specifically recruiting Lisa after they realize her connection to Sarah and identify her as a good mark. A montage reveals how similar her experience at the community is to Sarah’s, showing that nothing was spontaneous or unplanned or unaccounted for.

Lisa at one point says she thought Sarah would leave after her freak out and Larry asks if Sarah is looking forward to having her friend back as they watch from the security feeds. Rather than show the torture outside the room is shown as Lisa can be heard screaming inside, facing the same torture that Sarah did. Lisa bites Brian in the ear, already more of a struggle to contain than Sarah had been and Larry admits that Sarah had been right to try and deter them because Lisa was stronger than her. They send Sarah in similarly to how they sent Edie in to confront Sarah and Lisa actually gets Sarah to start to break instead. Sarah argues that Lisa is the brainwashed one and not her because she’s still pursuing acting in LA at 38 as an office assistant but Lisa quickly comes back and quashes Sarah’s upper hand in the convo.

Lisa tries to get out and almost does but is stopped by Larry who instructs Sarah to hammer a needle in Lisa’s ear as he holds her down, saying she needs to finish what she started. Lisa pleads that it’s Sarah’s life to her and this breaks the spell over her, causing her to stab Larry in the neck with the instrument rather than aid him in hurting Lisa. They begin to walk out of the hallway towards the stairs as they reconnect and fuck-face Larry shoots Lisa through the head from behind, killing her. Sarah jumps into action and stabs Larry repeatedly as she screams “fuck you” to him then takes the keys and door buzzer from his pockets. She sees he also has the brand behind his ear, implying he too went through the same torture as she takes his gun too. Everyone is coming out of their apartments having heard some commotion in the relatively quiet complex. Sarah holds the gun out to ward them off as they begin to close in on her and she screams that they are all free to go because she killed their captor Larry.

Janice runs at her with a knife having discovered Larry’s death and Sarah fires a warning shot but Brian informs her that Larry didn’t start Asilo Del Mar. He explains to her that they have no central leader and that Larry was trained by Ellerby to create something that sustains leaderless. The next leader seems to be Brian based on this interaction and she threatens to shoot him if he doesn’t let her leave. He calls her bluff but not repeating the mistakes of her past she shoots him rather quickly after this and makes a break for the door. Lester takes the gun from her when she’s held back by another community member and she tells him to shoot her and just end it.

Lester shoots towards the camera with the action behind the shot to conceal who’s shot momentarily and it’s revealed that he’s shot the community member and sparred Sarah. He rushes forward and pushes her out of the front door and shuts it while holding off the other cult members wanting to stop Sarah. Lester holds the gun under his chin as Sarah looks back in horror while the door shuts. Once the door shuts through the glass windows shadows are seen in a scuffle and then a gunshot rings out as blood splatters against the door. Sarah escapes with the door buzzer as the cult members angrily pound on it from the other side. Covered in Lisa and Larry’s blood Sarah runs down the street in a full sprint momentarily. The street is still silent however so she stops and turns to see if anyone is chasing her but the area is clear of signs of life.

The darkened car lined street is a relief to her until she notices other buildings have similar security cameras to the community then sees one has the same logo on their community sign. She thinks back to asking Brian in the security office who was watching them and how he explained someone was always watching just as alarms begins blaring from the surrounding buildings. The alarms trigger one by one down the street, lining both sides as far as can be seen into the distance. The red alarm lights casting a glow on Sarah’s blood covered face she chuckles and balls her fists, the camera moving around her to then show behind her. She takes off running down the center of the street as the alarms rage on either side of her and into the distance. This cuts to credits without more details about their community, the other communities, or the extent of power the broader cult actually has.

Conclusion

1BR isn't perfect but it does provide an interesting story that is told from multiple perspectives at different points in time throughout Sarah's indoctrination. I like that the indoctrination is shown before going into the tactics used, it made them feel more impactful as a viewer that I too had been tricked by their methods. The speakers at night to keep her up that the other neighbors claim to never hear is one example of mind tricks that always sticks out to me and struck me. So often we brush off noises as our own paranoia or eccentricities in particular if that individual is a woman that lives alone like Sarah is when she moves into Aldis Del Mar. Sarah is highly susceptible like many cult members are when brought in, Larry even admitting that part of the key to success is picking the right candidate. It isn't explicity said that the right candidate is someone struggling or at rock bottom in life feeling lost but the statements from other group members coupled with Sarah and Lisa's experiences match that implicity expressed detail.

I think it is clever to show the community from Sarah's perspective as well as from the internal perspective of her helping out to show the contrast in rose colored glasses benefit of the doubt version of the community and the cult that it is revealed to be. The nonchalance is also extremely unsettling, another day at work vibes towards Sarah as they taze then restrain and torture her, feeling that her compliance is childish and misguided rather than justified based on her circumstances. Despite all that happens to her she still engages in the tactics and brings Lisa into the fold which also feels important to include because it is easy to condemn the other characters without really examining the true horror of the cult. I like the contrasting imagery and the use of Lisa and Sarah as 2 very different personalities response to the same cult tactics and indoctrination and wanted more of that. The cult itself is a self sustaining beast at the point we join which doesn't absolve the members but does make one ask the chicken and the egg question of who is really to blame, the cult or the cult members who keep the cult alive, growing, and evolving.

Back in 2019 the isolation and impacts of them on society due to COVID-19 felt like sci-fi fiction of tinfoil hat wearing forum dwellers. Now however the plot of 1BR doesn't feel niche at all and more and more cult tactics have become normalized and streamlined to capture entire voting popuations in chokeholds they can't escape. This will always be a film I wish I could've watched prior to the pandemic to view it with that mindset rather than my current one that people are so starved for community something as insidious as Aldis Del Mar like communities could become widespread without much notice being paid.