The Room Next Door – Death and Casual Friends

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The Room Next Door Review

If you’re looking for a movie that may be the cure for insomnia, or one that will make your worst friends look better – The Room Next Door might just be the ticket. The movie, directed by Pedro Almodóvar, hits theaters this week and while it may encourage you to pour a stronger drink it message seems to be lacking and missing overall.

The movie follows two childhood friends Martha (Tilda Swinton) and Ingrid (Julianne Moore) who reconnect while Martha undergoes cancer treatment. The dependence that Martha almost immediately pushes onto Ingrid, because no one else will help her is aggressive. One visit quickly becomes having to be available at the beginning of a hat, despite what is going on in Ingrid’s own life. And from there, it progresses even faster. With Martha asking Ingrid to join her on a month-long visit to a fancy home in the woods, where she will eventually take her own life without warning.

The Room Next Door Review

The movie could have made a statement about assisted suicide, or the choice that patients can and should have if they’re dying of cancer or another horrific disease. Instead, it was loaded with weird conversations that lacked a connection between the characters. You don’t feel bad for Martha, instead, you feel bad that Ingrid is trapped in a friendship with someone who puts them in so little regard they don’t care about your emotions or your life after they take care of their “business”. Yes, there is some selfishness in the assisted suicide decision, but that is understandable in the situation that is presented. But what isn’t forgivable is the forced dependency and legal ramifications she thrusts on someone she barely knows.

Besides a resolution to pretty major issues that seemed to rushed and quick, the movie leaves too many questions for viewers. And while the main cast is underutilized, it seems like the budget was spent on them exclusively and the rest rushed and slopping like the ending.

The Room Next Door Review

There are too many problems with this movie, from a script that seems to lack direction and emotion, to talent that is lost in this listless story, and even just the premise. But is this just a movie and story lost in translation? Something that would have done better in a foreign market if the script wasn’t in English for our market? Or should it have been left completely on the cutting room floor? It seems like the movie tried to make a point, but for who and what it exactly is, is lost between the awkward conversations and the preachy relationships the characters have.

The Room Next Door will be released in theaters starting on December 20th.

Overall Rating

One Star Review

About The Room Next Door

The Room Next Door Review

Ingrid (Julianne Moore) and Martha (Tilda Swinton) were close friends in their youth, when they worked together at the same magazine. Ingrid went on to become an autofiction novelist while Martha became a war reporter, and they were separated by the circumstances of life. After years of being out of touch, they meet again in an extreme but strangely sweet situation.

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