Monday, October 7, 2024

The Room Next Door (2024) NYFF 2024


Pedro Almodóvar's first English language feature has Ingrid (Julianne Moore) reconnecting with Martha (Tilda Swinton) who is fighting cancer. When Martha decides to end her pain permanently, Ingrid agrees to accompany her.

Mid-level Almodovar is more like stage play then a feature film. While Moore and Swinton (and John Turturro in a funny cameo) are excellent, the script is full of dialog that is purple and exactly the sort of thing that you only hear on stage. We aren't listening to conversations but listening to speeches. Because everyone was saying perfectly craft lines about the meaning of life I never connected. There is no small talk only live and death discussions.

It' not bad, but it isn't great either. This is a impressionistic painting of life not life itself.

This is going to work best for fans of the director.

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