Think of any given hotel room for a second. It’s kind of scary to think about how many people have ended up there prior to your stay, not to mention the kinds of things that may have gone down in there also. There is a good chance that someone throughout the history of that hotel has stayed in your room for a very similar reason as you. “208” is a wonderfully shot and perfectly edited short about this interesting type of occurrence. It shows us two separate lives running parallel in the same hotel room then asks if these two women are strangers or do they have some deeper connection somehow?
A woman appearing to be running away from something decides to take a break at a hotel. She checks into room 208, where she soon discovers the presence of another woman. As her stay in this room progresses, we learn that her decisions are connected to the other woman’s. They both ran away from problems that can’t simply be repaired.
Jane Ann La Rue and Oriana Oppice star and, for newcomers, they do an admirable job of separating themselves from others that have played suicidal characters. They both take on that grim choice without all the melodramatic clichés usually associated with that type of role.
Jimmy Sariya has a couple of shorts under his belt already; it would be nice to see him tackle a feature. It’s obvious he can juggle tone and theme perfectly, as well as pulling straightforward performances from his actors at the same time. Could these skills translate well to a feature? Why couldn’t they? Either way, “208” is a somber and chilling look into the world of freaky hotel rooms that is certainly worth a watch.
