11 Comments

I’m glad both of these are getting out there. I thought Tilda Swinton was brilliant in THE ROOM NEXT DOOR and wish her performance in it was getting half as much attention as her more mannered turn in PROBLEMISTA.

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I didn't mention it, but Swinton seems a bit consciously styled to look like Bowie, especially once they get to the house, doesn't she? Or maybe I just have this video stuck in my head: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8q0prs

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I think Swinton and Bowie are both otherworldly, in the best way. I think of Swinton as a vampire in ONLY LOVER LEFT ALIVE (2013), and David Bowie just as himself in the 53 minute BBC documentary CRACKED ACTOR (1975). Of course they are/were very much of this world, but they both could easily project a unique and untouchable mystery.

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Small editing critique: At the top of THE ROOM NEXT DOOR review, Julianne Moore is identified as playing "Ingrid", and midway down that first paragraph, Tilda Swinton is ID'd as "Martha". Then in the last paragraph, it appears that they switch roles...

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I swear that must have been an auto-correct I didn't catch. Fixing...

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(Or maybe I just got "Ingrid" fever from writing that name so many times in the review.)

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All corrected now. Not sure what happened there (beyond it being my fault.)

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Swinton is really incredible in The Room Next Door. Like, Moore is excellent and doing important work in the film, but even with as good as she is Swinton is just on another level.

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Seen Peterloo and Happy Go Lucky. Where would Leigh fans suggest I go next?

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It’s hard to go wrong. MR. TURNER, VERA DRAKE and TOPSY TURVY for the historic dramas. For contemporary stories: LIFE IS SWEET and SECRETS AND LIES. NAKED is one I need to revisit. I wasn’t sure what to make of it at the time. But Leigh hasn’t made a lot (maybe any?) duds. I wrote about another favorite a while back:

https://thereveal.substack.com/p/the-soundtrack-of-our-lives-mike

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NAKED. Absolute masterpiece. I’m also fond of TOPSY TURVY. But you can do no wrong.

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