The Room Next Door
Cast: Tilda Swinton ,Julianne Moore
Writer and Director: Pedro Almodovar
**and a 1/2 *'s out of Five
Two friends who have not seen eachother for years reunite in this very well acted but entirely depressing film.
Ingrid(Julianne Moore) is a successful writer who has just published a book about her fear of death. She gets news that an old friend of hers is dying of cancer. Martha (Tilda Swinton) has tried many treatments but after her lastest one. She has decided to take her own life and she asks Ingrid to be there when she does. What follows next is a series of conversations and stories that would be fascinating in the book, What are You Going Through.Which this film is being adapted from. In a novel you have time to build on certain characters and stories but for a feature film. Details get shortened, names removed or alter and it gets tedious real fast.
If this movie is about to be about the joys of life and that our time here is too short. This does not achieve that at all. Moore and Swinton are both excellent in their roles. But there should a better story on why we want to spend time with them.
There have been other movies by Almodovar that have dealt with this subject but in better ways. Volver comes to mind even though it’s much different story. For his first English Language feature, The Room Next Door is well crafted and many people are going to love it. Others are going to find the subject matter much too grim to enjoy.
Jason "The Vern" Hemming
is a proud member of the Minnesota Film Critics Association (MNFCA). Read
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