Room of Death (2007)

Waste of time

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

This is a strange one, a police procedural-type of story mixed with an almost Gothic, Hammer-esque sensibility. It mostly works, but the two strands don't entirely mesh. The police investigation aspect is the stronger. Melanie Laurent is an intuitive detective (with twin infants at home) investigating two kidnappings that may be related. The first has ended badly (not a spoiler, this is in the opening minutes of the film) due to a hit-and-run accident that killed a man trying to deliver a ransom. The accidental killers hide the body and take the money; how they react to this provides an ongoing subplot.Once the identity of the kidnapper(s) is revealed, the film takes a detour into Gothic-y, almost Cronenberg territory. In addition, there are several flashbacks that hint at a dark past which informs Laurent's character. (I'm guessing that the novel this is based on fills in more detail about this; in the film it remains a bit vague.) The florid nature of the last 45 minutes sits uneasily with the mostly gripping procedural narrative up to that point. It's not a fatal flaw, but once we enter the world and mindset of the kidnapper(s) the film flirts with being too wiggy for its own good. However, the plotting and pacing are strong, the performances are good, the cinematography matches the dark and heightened tone of the story, and Melanie Laurent (if you ignore that at age 24, it's a stretch that she's already made detective) anchors it all as a believable and likable heroine. Plausibility is strained, but it's never boring.

As already noticed by other reviewers, this a french "homagge" to "Silence of the lambs", to make things perfectly clear one of the main characters in the film even picks up the Thomas Harris book. It has its problems: pacing is uneven, some scenes drag quite a bit and there are some holes in the plot but when everything is added this is a pretty solid effort whit some interesting ideas and great, lyrical ending. Actors are all very good, even in the smallest of parts(the zoo owner was great). Directon is stylish and camera work impressive at times. Although the script isn't all that original it does elaborate some great twists and psychological insight. It merits one viewing, 7/10.

Weird unpleasant and unnerving murder mystery that I still haven't completely unraveled. It begins with two men hitting a pedestrian, stealing the money he was carrying and getting mixed up with a kidnapping. Meanwhile a young detective with two kids investigates a murder that seems to be related. Thats a poor attempt at explaining this odd film, honestly there is no way to simply explain this with out giving too much away. Think Silence of the Lambs meets Seven meets something similar. Its a weird frigging movie requires you to pay attention and deal with often heavy weirdness. Worth a look if you like very strange unsettling films. I'm not sure what I think of it completely or that I got everything after one late night viewing. I'm going to have to try it again when I'm much less tired. (A word of warning its got some scenes of heavy sexuality, including hardcore graphic sex in at least one scene on a TV screen, so keep the kids away.)

I've had the chance to see this movie yesterday in Paris before I leave. From the trailer, I thought it's worth seeing as it looks like a good thriller/horror film. But I was so disappointed. The story line is somehow predictable. It lacks originality and you can easily compare it to a masterpiece of cinema (i'm not gonna mention the name, but i'm pretty sure you'll guess it). As for the cast, I think they were over-acting here and there, maybe due to the weak script and the empty moments where they look like not knowing what to fill the scene with. But hey, not everything is bad, you'll enjoy some good cinematography in some scenes, specially in the beginning. Unfortunately, i think it's a missed opportunity and as we say in french: Dommage, c'est raté!