Movie Review: Red Room
After watching the usual revenge, crime, thrillers, investigative, etc., genre, there comes something that absorbs you almost instantly, as a non-playing character watching the proceedings from the sidelines.
As the movie trudges ahead slowly, one step at a time, it feels like walking on a treacherous hike filled with deep crevices at every step, hidden beneath deep yet loose snow. One tries not to miss anything, as every scene attempts to reveal something. Yet it often feels like watching an endless snowy field without contours or contrast to enlighten you even a little. And still, one is hooked, unable to take their eyes off the screen till the end.
And the end. It leaves us dangling at the cliff’s edge, not due to suspense, but… saying anything more would be spoilers.
The movie is Red Room, a Canadian film in French with English subtitles, directed by
Pascal Plante.
It is a beautifully crafted film where a serial killer is on trial, yet that is not what the director truly strives to show. Despite occupying a large portion of screen time, the courtroom proceedings avoid grandstanding or flashiness. There is a necessary restraint, fitting for a case where three teenagers are tortured, abused, and killed, acts captured on camera and sold on the
dark web.
Human depravity and cruelty are present everywhere;front, left, and right, yet nothing is graphic. The film instead forces us to confront the existence of those who kill to create content for money, those who purchase such material to titillate themselves, and the invisible marketplaces willing to sell anything; rape, torture, even murder.
Without stating it explicitly, the film makes us reflect on society’s voyeurism and its deep seated hunger for spectacle.
Central to all this is Kelly Ann, the protagonist, who is so obsessed with the case that she never misses a single day of the trial, sleeping outside the courthouse to secure a seat in the tiny courtroom. She is a model, an expert online poker player, technologically adept enough to run her own AI on a personal server, a hacker, and more.
With a face that refuses to reveal anything, she represents mastery over financial, digital, and even emotional systems.
Every viewer will have their own version of Kelly Ann and yet remain unable to fully understand her.
That is the film’s success. It lingers long after it ends, compelling viewers to revisit scenes in a futile attempt to understand it a little more.
This is a director’s film; almost documentary like in its straightforward flow. And when Kelly Ann occupies the frame, it elevates into noir; not as a style, but as moral opacity. She excels by maintaining a poker face throughout, never revealing her emotions or true motivations.
This is not a film for everyone. It is neither fast nor thrilling, nor does it rely on action. Yet it is dense with psychological tension. There is closure in the trial; but no closure for the audience.
Viewers are left to grapple with differing moralities, their own and that of the protagonist and with motivations deliberately left unclear to highlight the grey zones.
Watch it to stimulate your grey cells, if nothing more.
