Much of what makes a great Pedro Almodovar film can be found in The Room Next Door: a layered narrative, a thoughtful color scheme, a focus on women, and an intense interest in sex and/or death. But a certain vitality is strangely missing, and not because of the subject matter. Tilda Swinton plays a terminally ill war reporter who enlists a novelist and old friend, played by Julianne Moore, to stay with her until the day she decides to end her own life by way of a black-market pill. With formidable actors such as these (whose striking hair colors are part of Almodovar’s palette), individual moments are electric. But neither of them are quite able to form characters who have real histories, despite many conversations and even a flashback or two. There’s a stilted, hermetic air to the proceedings. Could the reason simply be the fact that this is Almodovar’s first feature in English? Perhaps, or it may lie in that he’s adapting a novel by Sigrid Nunez. Either way, this is more of an Almodovar curiosity than a triumph. With sturdy support from John Turturro and an odd appearance by Alessandro Nivola.
(12/4/2024)
