5.0 out of 5 stars
Room -starring Cyndi Williams, October 11, 2011
This review is from: Room (DVD)
I am aware that I am running against the herd, but I loved this movie.
I loved the music and the ambiance, and even the "too obvious to be subliminal"
messages. The movie is quiet and I thought had a mysterious quality to it that I didn't
feel compelled to overanalyze. I actually watched this twice before buying it.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Room With an Existentially Troubled View, June 22, 2011
This review is from: Room (DVD)
I appreciated what this solemn little indie film was trying to capture and could somewhat identify with Julia's compulsion to search for something possibly beyond this world, but not knowing exactly what it was, what it represented or where to find it. Central themes revolve around psychic and emotional dissonance. Camera approach is almost cinema vérité, adding to the sense of anguish and anxiety that permeates each scene. This film (for me, anyway) is a haunting study of alienation, despair, longing, desire and ultimately escape for something *MORE.
The actress Cyndi Williams gave a superb performance as an archetypal housewife, or perhaps, more accurately, struggling member of the Western middle class who feels the pull of the abyss on her psyche, represented by recurring visions of a loft-like space with blinding white light at the windows. Some viewers may quickly categorize this woman as someone who is battling and succumbing to a form of mental illness--perhaps experiencing a nervous breakdown-- but I'm not so sure that's completely the case here. She suffers migraines, passes out in the supermarket and at home, secretly smokes, is chronically late for work and finally crashes her vehicle when she blacks out behind the wheel just after having one of her visions of the ROOM. Upon waking from her blackout at road's edge, she realizes that she has crashed into the sign of an airplane in flight. She's next to the airport. The sign of the plane becomes a symbol for her, as does the sound of a plane taking off on the runway next to her. Sequence to her driving to her job at the bingo parlor, slipping in and robbing the safe, then a brief stop at home, to bandage the cut on her forehead she sustained from her auto accident and to quickly pack a few clothes and then straight to the airport to catch a plane to New York, the inexplicable destination she's drawn to in search of the ROOM.
The rest of the film is a series of scenes that show this woman, who now fully symbolizes a lost soul, a life displaced, searching the streets of New York for the ROOM. Now she has embarked on a journey driven by symbols--an arrow drawn in the sidewalk, arrows posted on walls, a strange encounter with a psychic, hallways, locked doors, someone from her past who has changed her name and reinvented herself, an awkward one night stand, until finally she's drawn to a rooftop and toward the edge of a building where she looks down and sees the top of a white van parked directly below. Her vision flickers as she gazes at the top of this vehicle and then a final hallucinatory montage of various images of the ROOM before a final fade to bright white. Roll credits. I was not disappointed with the (seemingly) abrupt ending of this film. To me, it felt like an appropriate, albeit symbolic underscore to the running question throughout the film; is she seeking solace, redemption, transcendence or annihilation?
Incidentally, this is the running question throughout all our lives. Whether we want to consciously acknowledge it or not.
I suspect this film will leave most people scratching (or shaking) their heads and wanting *MORE. In that regard, it's not a film for those who like to be spoon fed their "entertainment".
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3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A bold and beautiful experiment in cinema!, August 9, 2007
This review is from: Room (DVD)
I think this film offers an interesting ride for any film lover that's looking for something different (i.e. - a story that promps the viewer to think about the story instead of force-feeding him/her the entire plot in easy-to-digest portions). The story has a life to it that's quite intoxicating, if you can get into it.
The performance by Cyndi Williams is very raw and couragous and is the glue that holds the film together. We get a glimpse of her painfully ordinary life and its daily struggles. By some twist of fate, she finds herself on a bizarre journey of constant discovery with no easy answers or conclusions.
After sitting through the usual dumbed-down Hollywood summer blockbusters, it was refreshing to see a film that required a little effort on my part. Honestly, it wasn't much of an effort. I was quickly taken in by the wonderful and honest performances, the great cinematography and the haunting score and ambience (Justin Hennard, who directed the equally wonderful and enigmatic MOONLIGHT BY THE SEA, worked on the sound design for this one). Overall, I really enjoyed the film. I was saddened by the bare-bones DVD. I would have really liked to hear a commentary on this one.
Recommended for adventurous movie-goers looking for something different.
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