The Maid's Room (2014)

So much average

A Masterpiece!

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

"Sorry, Mr. Crawford, but everybody is equal under the eyes of god. Under the eyes of god, maybe, but not mine."I wasn't really excited about this simple story. It rather seems like an adaptation of some light hearted crime novelette you can buy in any newsstand. A sort of "Der Alte"-story, set in modern times and supported by a soundtrack that reminded me at times of "Twin Peaks". But the story on it's own is meager and certain interpretations aren't really impressive. It's first and foremost highly predictable and again it's an indictment against the gap between the wealthy and the less fortunate ones. The apparent invulnerability of certain individuals is the common thread running through the whole story. Besides the short playing time there isn't much positives to say about it.Drina (Paula Garcés), a beautiful girl from Colombia, has emigrated to the US to work for the Crawford family, a very wealthy family (all the clichés are used again to portray this). The master of the house Mr. Crawford (Bill Camp) is a typical businessman making lots of money probably. First of you're wondering what the hell he really does for a living, since the way he expresses himself isn't that impressive. He looks rather uncertain when explaining things, without determination and timid when it comes to making decisions. Mrs.Crawford (Annabella Sciorra) is the exuberant wife who's undoubtedly the one who spends the most money and as a tradition it looks as if she has a drinking problem. Brandon (Philip Ettinger) plays the spoiled son who's strolling through the house and lives there as a king. He is a typical teenager who has things going for him just because of his origin (if it wasn't for his father he'd never be able to get into Princeton). Finally, Drina is modesty itself. The only living space where she can stay in her spare time is her tiny little bedroom along the garage. The rest of the house is solely work area for her. And despite the friendly tone used by Mrs. Crawford, you still can feel her haughty attitude.One night Brandon returns home drunk, pukes in the garage and stumbles back in his bed. The next morning Drina discovers that the car is damaged seriously and there are also signs of blood being wiped off. At least there was an attempt to do that. Brandon minimizes this incident and brings up an explanation that he hit a deer. Until Drina finds an article in Brandon's room about a fatal traffic accident with a hit and run. And after that the whole story derails. You would expect the story focusing on the crime being unraveled. However, it becomes an ethical issue of bribery and justice, with all its consequences. It ends up with a where-do-we-hide-the-body soap as you would expect in "How to get away with murder?".And not only the story wasn't very special. The performances also were sometimes toe-curling bad. Especially the performances of Mr. And Mrs. Crawford were too sad for words. The opening scene in the office of Mr. Crawford with a dialogue between these two characters about whether or not to hire Drina as the main topic, almost made me decide to turn off the television. Mainly Drina and Brandon acted still acceptable. Drina by her youthful innocence and probably mostly by her natural beauty and sensual appearance (despite the attempt to give her a more chaste appearance by giving here a traditional hairstyle). You could clearly hear her South American accent when she spoke, but it had the wrong effect on me. Instead of sounding pitiful, it sounded incredible sensual. Brandon did his best not to get too dignified. Despite his stable situation as the son of rich folks, he sometimes acted as an insecure teen boy.Ultimately you can compare "The Maid's Room" with a pulp novelette, you grab from a kiosk and while sitting somewhere waiting for something, you glance through it just to pass the time. How appropriate. It only serves as a means to kill time (no pun intended).More reviews here : http://opinion-as-a-moviefreak.blogspot.be

This movie is not agonizing in the way the bigger part of modern USA horror is agonizing: there are no priest vs. demons vs. supernatural feels vs. very sweet children in a middle-class context. This immediately lifts this movie out of the realm of mediocrity, and sets it apart from all the Insidious-like crap that's floating around the JW player jungle. A good thing was the moral ambiguity in the son's character, as well as the lead actress'"maid".However, it's not really a scary movie for anybody older than 12. This shouldn't even be considered a horror film, imho. I liked the story, but found the execution somewhat flawed in that the main characters (other than the maid + son) could never really convince in their authenticity. Also, the sound-design/music is typical meh & Hollywood-esque (no creative montage, no purist electronic usage, sub-par interaction of visuals and audio etc). The tempo is kinda slow, but not too slow; the story is not very original, but original enough.All in all a so-so one-time watch, but nothing more.

The Maid's Room has got to be one of the most confused thrillers I can remember seeing. It's got an almost nonsensical plot structure. Don't confuse that with "innovative" or "creative" --- no, the script for this film is a complete mess.Michael Walker seems to be a bright guy with some very interesting ideas. His last film, "Price Check," took a lot of chances and turned the office rom-com genre on its head in the process. I didn't always love what he did with the storyline and characters in "Price Check", but it was logical and provoking, and the characters had depth enough to make intelligent decisions and retain your interest. Oh yeah, casting Parker Posey, an almost unsinkable talent, as his lead didn't hurt either.Walker tries a similar stunt with the domestic thriller genre. His lead this time is the beguiling Paula Garces, who brings just the right tone to Drina, a young Columbian maid who the Crawfords (Bill Camp and Annabella Sciorra) hire to basically babysit and clean up after their coddled son at their Long Island mansion while they go back to NYC for the summer. Unfortunately, shortly after their departure, the son, Brandon (Phillip Ettinger), gets involved in an accident that appears a bit more serious than he lets on. When Drina finds blood on a sponge Brandon used to clean up, you can imagine the consequences for all involved, witnesses and otherwise.Or can you? That's the thing about The Maid's Room...things don't exactly go as you'd predict. I'm ordinarily all for these types of out-of-the-box twists, but they fail in this case because the characters who are left holding the bag after this mid-film climax simply aren't worth watching (or well cast). From then on, this film is something of a schizophrenic freakshow, careening in tone from "Night of the Living Dead" territory to "Revenge of the Migrant Workers." What did Walker intend to do here, then? Ah, yes. That's the other big problem. I heard lots of bad press on this movie shortly after it opened mostly because it "demonized the filthy rich" and made them into "impossibly heartless baddies." Ehh, not really. I don't think any of the Crawford's actions (and far worse no doubt) are beyond the qualms of the upper class and those who aspire to their leagues. I didn't even think Bill Camp's constant pompous prattling about "what it takes to succeed" to his son were overblown. But do we really need constant shots of invading ants to hammer home the corruption of these upper crusters? It's lame symbolism, not to mention idiotic (hire an exterminator or buy a jug of vinegar, for god's sake).The film simply tries overly hard to do all the wrong things. It's not artful or subtle enough to offer anything we don't already know about class conflict, the plight of immigrants, or the corruption of power. I'm sure some directors could pull it off, but they'd need a far more talented cast (apologies to Sciorra, who's great, but she's given nothing to do here but literally bitch).The Maid's Room is a thriller and it needs to thrill. All it drew from me was a semi-bored, confounded stare.

If you want to see a near perfect movie, this is it. There were a number of times that the movie could've ended. Each time it doesn't end, you are submitted to even more of the torture that these poor rich folks had to endure. The depth of character and emotion in this is incredible. Forget about the 'immigrants vs rich people' premise. This is about the human condition. It ventures into those depths of inner torment that defy all probability. There were also moments where I felt like it was going to go even further into madness. When the kid starts fantasizing about the maid after she's been buried for a few days...I was half-expecting him to go and desecrate the body sexually. This rich estate, was like a living breathing hell, complete with the ants crawling over everything and everyone who was dying. I really wish that the maid didn't die, mainly because she was freaking hot as hell. Awesome legs. Finally, the music really tied it all together, the music is masterfully composed. Expert soundtrack.