The Room Next Door review – Almodóvar’s English-language debut is extravagant and engrossing

Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton give luxuriously self-aware performances as two old friends who are reunited in a doggedly mysterious drama

Peter Bradshaw

Wed 23 Oct 2024 07.00 BST

When this film won the Golden Lion for Pedro Almodóvar at the Venice film festival this summer, there were three kinds of surprised critic. Some were surprised to learn that this was Almodóvar’s first ever major European festival award; others that this should be the film to finally bag it … and then there were those who were politely surprised that it should have won anything at all. I myself found it as extravagant and engrossing and doggedly mysterious as anything he has done recently, with luxuriously self-aware performances from Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton, and an undertow of darkness often overlooked by yeasayers and naysayers.

Tilda Swinton, Demi Moore, Julia Moore and Nicole KidmanSwinton and Moore: Courtesy Toronto International Film Festival; Moore: Chad Salvador—Variety/Getty Images; Kidman: Niko Tavernise—A24

While Brad Pitt and George Clooney Settle Into Silver-Fox Charm, Their Female Peers Are the True Stars of the Season

BY STEPHANIE ZACHAREK

20 September 2924

The pleasures of writer-director Jon Watts’ crime caper Wolfs are numerous: George Clooney and Brad Pitt play dueling fixers called in to clean up the accidental death of a young, adorable student—prior to his demise, occasioned by his jumping on a hotel bed, he’d been picked up by high-powered district attorney Amy Ryan in a bar. Clooney and Pitt have reached the age where they know it’s useless to pretend they’re something they’re not. Their faces look handsomely lived in; the whispers of gray in their artfully sculpted chin stubble feel honest and earned. Like Lucy and Ethel in the throes of a falling out, they’re fun to watch as they bicker and crab at one another, leaning heavily on their silver-fox charm. Still, what they’re offering feels as comfy as the worn-in leather jackets they wear. And in this late-2024 movie season, if you find yourself wishing for something more—for another view of what actors in the 50-to-60-ish age bracket can do—look to the women, who insist on pushing themselves out of the comfort zone rather than settling into it.

Demi Moore in Coralie Fargeat’s horror-of-aging black comedy The Substance, Nicole Kidman in Halina Reijn’s May-December sizzler Babygirl,Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore in Pedro Almodóvar’s moving and provocative The Room Next Door: These big-name movie stars are pushing into new territory rather than just riffing on whatever may have made them appealing 10, 20, or 30 years ago. That’s a luxury no actress can afford, and these women know it.

From Asghar Farhadi to Pedro Almodóvar: The triumphs and failures of filming in another language

From left to right, Fernando Trueba, Juan Pablo Urrego and Aida Folch on the set of 'Haunted Heart' in 2022.CLARA LEÓN

From Asghar Farhadi to Pedro Almodóvar: The triumphs and failures of filming in another language 

The release of ‘Haunted Heart’ and ‘The Room Next Door’ join a growing list of movies by filmmakers who have dared to try their hand at a foreign language

TOMMASO KOCH

Madrid - AUG 31, 2024 -

One person bought rice. Another bought a bottle of olive oil. Maybe someone picked up some biscuits. Nothing transcendental, nor particularly artistic. Just the usual stuff in a grocery store. However, while he helped his parents run their business, little Asghar Farhadi watched the customers and would daydream about their shopping carts, their looks or their characters.

 

Tilda Swinton, Pedro Almodóvar and Julianne Moore

Venice film festival 2024

Are standing ovations at film festivals getting out of hand?

The Venice premiere of Almodóvar’s The Room Next Door received 17 minutes of applause – has touting the length of clapping has become just another PR tool?

Logia de Guy

Wednesday 4 September 2024

For any film lovers who aren’t currently at the Venice film festival and want to play along at home, here’s something to try. Pop in a DVD of your favourite Pedro Almodóvar film – or your least favourite, or one you think is merely OK, since it makes little difference for this exercise. Watch the film through and, as the closing credits begin to roll, set the stopwatch on your phone, rise to your feet and start clapping. Keep clapping until your hands are sore, your feet are sore, or you simply get bored – whichever comes first. Pause the stopwatch and see how long you made it. A minute? Two if you were really stretching yourself?