It tells the story of a newly pregnant couple who are forced to take in an ailing, estranged stepmother.
Chuck says:
While hardly subtle, Max and Sam Eggers’ “The Front Room” is worth a look due to a commanding performance from Kathryn Hunter and its willingness to tackle the issue of race in a unique and timely manner. What with its confined spaces and spare cast, the story could be presented as a play – and a very effective one at that – as the Eggers focus on the clash of personalities at their story’s core. As such, the initial familial intimacy becomes a stifling, claustrophobic situation in which paranoia takes root and a young, loving couple find themselves at each other’s throats.
Like so many young couples, Belinda and Norman (Brandy Norwood and Andrew Burnap) are struggling. The repairs are constant on the old house they bought and with her having quit her job in a fit of pique, money has gotten even tighter. The fact that she’s expecting only adds to the stress they’re dealing with as do unresolved issues regarding a miscarriage she suffered a year before.
So, when Norman’s father dies, it seems like, yet another stressor added to an already insurmountable pile. While there was some tension between him and his father, the real issue was always with his stepmother, Solange (Hunter). A religious fanatic, she has no boundaries as far as imposing her beliefs and opinions on those around her, including her racist tendencies. Norman wants to distance himself as far from her as possible, that is until she makes him an offer he can’t refuse. He and Belinda are set to inherit her estate, which consists of hundreds of thousands of dollars. All they must do is let her move in with them and care for her until she dies.
And so it goes, with somewhat predictable yet intriguing results. Hunter cuts a distinctive figure in whatever film she’s in, her recent appearances in “The Tragedy of MacBeth” and “Poor Things,” brief, yet bracing. Much as in those films, her petite stature belies the force of her commanding personality. Wizened in appearance yet with eyes that malevolently dance about, she proves an imposing figure, cackling with the rasp of a three-pack-a-day coal miner, she uses Solange’s two canes to ominously announce her approach, sucking all the oxygen out of the room as we anticipate her next offense.
No punches are pulled in that area, as she revels in her incontinence and the fact that Belinda is left to clean up her malodorous messes, while also leveling accusations of abuse towards her with a mania that proves convincing. As her Christian iconography slowly creeps from her bedroom to other areas of the house, her insidious presence grows, reaching a peak when a prayer group shows up, insisting on laying hands on Belinda to bless her child before birth.
This moment, as well as those in which her blatant racism is exposed are at the heart of the movie, as Solange’s past is Belinda’s forever present. As her oppressor laments the passing of the good old days, the mother-to-be continues to battle the prejudice leveled towards her and her peers, an evil that refuses to die.
The Eggers stumble by introducing a supernatural element that is soon abandoned. It’s as if they realized their focus should be on more concrete issues but were unable to completely excise this superfluous subplot. No matter, “Room” still manages to have an impact, as it not only puts our national shame in the crosshairs but examines the moral compromises that are sometimes made to combat it.
3 Stars
