4 stars out of 5
Ticket clerk: “You’re in Theater 1.”
Me: “Yes, but what’s in… the room next door?”
After that bit of hilarity, I was ready to purchase my popcorn and settle in for Pedro Almodóvar’s first English-language feature with the boffo leads Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton. On the surface, this is a pretty heavy story: One old friend (Swinny) has terminal cancer and asks the other old friend to accompany her at the Very End. But Almodóvar has the lightness of touch to make it as much a celebration of living and friendship as it is a meditation on death and grief. Plus he tosses in some humor and a little police drama too.
Moore’s character, Ingrid, is compellingly drawn, and perfectly portrayed. We quickly learn that — like the writer of this review — she’s not great at setting boundaries/saying no. And she’s not even Martha’s (Swinton) BFF — they’ve reconnected after many years only because Ingrid has learned of Martha’s illness. So why not ask a closer pal to be her room-next-door death buddy? Uh, Martha did ask three others first, but they all said NO. (I found that pretty funny.)
Swinton is very well-cast too, and not just because she’s gaunt. She’s quite believable as someone who wants to call her own shots, wants to plan it all out, but every now and then we see the cracks in her armor.
We’re in a classic Woody setting of high-achieving individuals (Ingrid’s a novelist; Martha’s a war reporter) in high-rent Manhattan. We get much more of Martha’s backstory, including some flashbacks. All we learn of Ingrid is her shared history with Martha: both worked at Paper Magazine and schtupped John Turturro (now a doom-preaching expert on the environment).
Martha and Ingrid decamp to upstate New York (credits reveal that much was actually filmed in Spain; baby steps for Pedro) to a rented house for the endgame. Now surrounded by nature, silence, and time, the women consider the resultant ethical and philosophical questions, and is Martha asking too much of too-agreeable Ingrid?
The viewer gets to ask themselves these same questions. How would we handle a similar situation? And who would we want in the room next door?
Movie Review: The Room Next Door
2 responses to “Movie Review: The Room Next Door”
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“We’re in a classic Woody setting of high-achieving individuals”
So basically “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” is a parody of Almodovar and now Almodovar is doing the reverse.
Ha! At this level, I’d say “homage.” Though in fairness to Mr. Almodóvar, this was based on a novel.