Heya

A murderer walks into a real estate agent's office in Tokyo. He is on the look-out for a room to rent and his demands are high. The room has to be small and comfortable with a view free of skyscrapers. He wants to find a place where the wind brings the scents of springtime, a place in which to relax when darkness falls. The female real estate agent has a vacant face and she answers his questions mechanically. Together they begin their search for the perfect room.

COMMENTARY
I am a fan of Andy Warhol, his stronger perversions excepted. Above all I like the movies: Haircut, Bat, Sleep among others. This is one of the reasons why I looked forward to watching The Room by Sion Sono. According to the description it was supposed to resemble an early Andy Warhol film. In retrospect I agree on the whole, but there are differences, most of all in the main purposes of the films.
The similarities are mainly on a structural level. Most striking is the black-and-white photography, the fixed camera angle and the banal surface. However, while the surface in a Warhol movie is devoid of symbolic value, The Room makes you look for hidden messages. The Room almost has the feel of a haikupoem in comparison to Warhol's more shallow Hollywood type of movies. Still, the director Sion Sono's purpose of the film is never clearly stated. Instead of being unambiguous, he makes your thoughts wander.
First and foremost I saw The Room as a poetic work of art. On the one hand it could be seen as a contribution to a classical
debate on ''nature'' versus ''culture''. On the other hand there are certain leads in the discriminating dialogue. But even the way the film is shot - with stills that last for minutes on end - provoke certain reactions. It almost seems as if the director wants to provoke his audience by ways of exhaustion. One example is a train journey which takes as long in the film as in real life. There is an incredible challenge in the way a situation is created and the way in which the viewer's undivided attention is demanded. In real life you could read a book in the meantime.
Maybe you are supposed to take a break from the film now and then. This was Andy Warhol's idea regarding his own films: ''You can eat and drink and smoke and cough and look away and then look back and they'd still be there''. On the other hand Warhol's images lasted more than a couple of minutes. In Sleep a man is asleep for six whole hours. ':'
Maria Österberg Ben Saad

Medverkande
Maro Akaji, Dohguchi Yoriko: Producent
Yasuoka Takahuru: Manus
Sono Sion: Foto
Otsuka Yuichiro: Musik
Okano Hiroki: Talat språk
Japanese