'THE ROOM NEXT DOOR' REVIEW: It's Pedro Almodóvar's World, We're Just Playing In It [3.5/5]
Starring Two Women Who Have Redefined Their Personal, Professional, and Societal Roles
[Rating 3.5/5] - dir. Pedro Almodóvar - 2024 - Spain - R - 1h 50m - Drama
The first word that came to mind when I sat down to write this review was “breezy”. No, it’s not a film with a slew of easy fixes. Director Pedro Almodóvar’s films never are. But there’s an effortlessness this time around, which you wouldn’t expect from a director’s English language debut, no matter how masterful he is in his native tongue (Spanish). Whether that breezy quality springs from the two preternaturally good leads (Julianna Moore and Tilda Swinton, capable of sleepwalking through roles like this, and still making them worth watching; John Torturro, in his supporting husband role, is of the same ilk; Let off his leash, he keeps up just fine), or from a new part of Almodóvar, discovered in some process of translation, it’s hard to tell.
It’s a quality well-suited to what might otherwise be… a bit of a drag. If that breeziness ebbs and flows, and is replaced instead by its cousin, restlessness, then so be it. The movie improves either way. Both qualities work to make viewing the film an active experience rather than a passive one.
Moore and Swinton play two old friends, brought together again for the first time since their teenage years because of a terminal cancer diagnosis the latter receives. They rekindle their relationship — exploring every definition of that word. Think Terms of Endearment, but 2025. I suppose I should mention this is an adaptation of What Are You Going Through, a novel by American author Sigrid Nunez, but the reality is, Almodóvar takes, and makes his own. I haven’t read the book, but this is an adaptation that 1. Thank goodness doesn’t feel like an adaptation, and 2. Is self-contained to the point where whatever is in the original book will only benefit readers who fall so in love with the film they’re looking for extra fat.
Almodóvar’s willing to push narrative boundaries, and let scenes play out in a way that at first doesn’t seem quite… edited enough, for want of better phrasing. His films work best seen as the forest, rather than its individual trees. Like the best emotion-first dramas, intangible feelings are the horse that leads the plot cart.
As cliché as it is, I’m relatively certain both leads could act their way through a phonebook. For them, a world this in touch with the metaphysical and the words unsaid, this must be like a playground.
For us, the viewers, those same beloved qualities cause the film to be somewhat enigmatic. If you — again, the viewer — have that dream ability to project yourself onto the narrative stakes, you’ll enjoy yourself. If you don’t, and you want to be spoon-fed (not a knock — there are those times), you’ll wonder why watching a movie feels like such an uphill battle.
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P.S. A bad wig or two…
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‘The Room Next Door’ is out in theatres January 10, 2025.
Selected Movie Quote: “I had no complaints.”
[Rating 3.5/5] - dir. Pedro Almodóvar - 2024 - Spain - R - 1h 50m - Drama