A man suddenly realizes that everyone around him has disappeared for reasons unknown.
Armin (Ulrich Kohler) is a cameraman who has fallen on some hard times. He has screwed up at work, forced to look for more work, and his grandmother has become severely ill.
The film opens up with a series of footage from an important press conference. The footage goes in and out and gets cut off at the most important parts. While watching this particular scene, I was not sure of what was going on, but the fact that Armin did not get the majority of the press conference is what sets his story up.
Following the discovery that Armin was not able to get the footage, his job as a cameraman is now in jeopardy. Armin begins to explore his options and during this time he is informed that his grandmother has fallen ill.
“…this would be the last time the world will look this way because when Armin wakes up he wakes up to an empty city.”
One night Armin heads out for a late night drive to clear his mind. He parks his car and eventually falls asleep. Little did Armin know that this would be the last time the world will look this way because when Armin wakes up he wakes up to an empty city.
I’m not sure what proper movie review etiquette is but I watched this film without reading what the synopsis is and sometimes that’s a good way to go into a film because the surprises and twists are even more effective when they happen. I was definitely surprised while watching this film. Going into it all I knew was that it was a German film. I was prepared for subtitles but little did I know that it would not matter.
When the film first starts, I was concerned that the whole film would be the shaky camerawork that was displayed in the opening scene. Luckily, it was just showing off how bad of a cameraman the main character is. The rest of the film actually has some great camerawork.
About thirty minutes or so, the subtitles did not matter because Armin (Ulrich Kohler) was on screen by himself for the majority of the time. Oddly enough, when the film does not have dialogue is when the film picks up. It’s a bit slow but once Armin realizes that everyone has disappeared, it turns into a whole different film. The kicker is that when he first meets someone (over an hour into the film) the film has English dialogue. This was a bit puzzling to me but it helped me get more into the film.
“Oddly enough, when the film does not have dialogue is when the film picks up…”
During the majority of the film, before he meets Kirsi (Elena Radonicich), it’s about Armin hunting for food. This part did not make sense to me because when he had first discovered that he was alone, he was in a food market that had food that he could just take. If I’m all alone in a city, I’m certainly taking the non-perishable food to survive.
What I appreciated most about this film was its music. There is not much that used but the songs that are used are great. There is a scene which uses Adagio. Adagio has been used in a number of films and has accompanied many iconic cinematic moments in film history. Once the film closes out, it’s a song by Oasis and is a great song to roll end credits to.
In My Room has a The Last Man on Earth and The Walking Dead feel (don’t expect zombies) and definitely has some surprises. Do all the surprises work? No. But most do and that works.
In My Room (2018) Directed and written by Ulrich Kohler. Starring Hans Low, Elena Radonicich, Michael Wittenborn, Emma Bading, Katharina Linder. In My Room screened at the 2019 San Francisco International Film Festival.
6.5 out of 10
