Four Shows, March 3 - 6:

The Room Next Door might be renowned Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar’s first English-language feature, but it leaves none of his signature hallmarks behind. Saturated with color and sumptuous detail, this film is a feast for the eyes. In it, Ingrid (Julianne Moore) is a bestselling author so famously afraid of death, she has written a book about it. When she learns that Martha (Tilda Swinton) – a former war correspondent – is ill, she visits her, reigniting a friendship from years past when both were journalists.

Martha is fighting another war now. She has cancer, and the rekindled closeness between the women means Ingrid is drawn into her treatments. As the two sit together, stories are told, secrets are revealed, and regret, redemption, and mortality are discussed. One day, Martha asks Ingrid if she might travel to a rented home to be with her at the end of her life. The way they negotiate this decision, one of life’s deepest choices, is what makes the film so memorable. Swinton, Moore, and John Turturro, who plays their friend, superbly inhabit the story’s flawed and fascinating characters, giving the film a pounding heart that makes it less about death than about the magic of life while we live it.

(Spain, US, France / 2024 / Directed by Pedro Almodovar)
PG-13 / 1 hr 47 mins