Room - a Film by Kyle Henry

Room is an unsuccessful attempt to create a cynical psychodrama that focuses on metaphysical forces in everyday lower-class life.

Julia Barker an over-worked and underpaid mother, newspaper delivery driver, and bingo hall attendant is unhappy with her mundane life. In the chaos of commuting to work through the Houston suburbs, dealing with the stresses of marriage and parenthood, and the constant presence of bleak television and radio news that permeates the environment, Julia begins to have debilitating migraines that stir up visions of a spacious industrial room.

After Julia awakes from a minor car accident brought on by a migraine, she decides to leave her family behind, rob her workplace, and set out on a rampant and irrational quest through New York City to locate the room in her vision. Throughout this unbridled trek she encounters several strange characters that seem to have no purpose other than to confuse and hinder Julia along her path. In the end Julia does not successfully complete her quest and there is no closure whatsoever.

Aside from the awesome cinematography, this film was merely trite post-modernism. There was no plot, no conflict, no underlying theme (other than disdain for the Bush Administration), no climax, and absolutely no resolution. The characters were one dimensional and their actions were baffling and unmotivated; especially the main character Julia whose whimsically bi-polar actions are without reason. It was painfully obvious that Writer/Director, Kyle Henry, was trying too hard to create a deeply mysterious and foreboding film reminiscent of Stanley Kubrick or David Lynch. Instead Room becomes a monotonous and annoying disgrace, destroying any promise offered by the expressive aesthetics.