At its best, the movie has an affecting, empathetic way of depicting the excitement, hesitation, and awkwardness of a new relationship, especially one that crosses established lines of sexuality and may, for that and other reasons, have a fast-approaching expiration date.īut while Medem’s location, lighting, and concept are as spare as the women’s clothing, he also gussies up Room in Rome needlessly. By the time the movie reaches morning, shots of the two women caressing each other in the bathtub are jarring less from the explicitness than the bright, unshadowed whites making their first appearance in the entire film.ĭuring the slow transition from shadows to sunlight, Alba and Natasha mostly talk and have sex, though they make some detours into in-room karaoke and playing with computer maps to show each other their homes. The movie starts out shadowy, in the dead of night, bodies half-hidden in darkness, gradually revealing more of Alba and Natasha as they open up to each other. Well, Alba, being a full-fledged lesbian, seems a little more sure, while Natasha, engaged to a man, is less so. We learn that both women are in Rome on vacation they got to talking in a bar earlier evening, and now here they are in the hotel, seemingly unsure of what will happen next. The story unfolds in a limited timeframe: We first see Alba (Elena Anaya) and Natasha (Natasha Yarovenko) as they enter Alba’s hotel, from a shot that peers over the balcony in Alba’s room, and the camera never leaves that room, even when the characters do. The film is a chronicle of a one-night stand between two women, though its use of nudity and sex is not quite as explicit, nor as expressive, as some of its closest recent relatives like 9 Songs and Shortbus. I’ve heard that sex sells, but if it that was all it took, Julio Medem’s Room in Rome might’ve been afforded a theatrical release, rather than playing a few festivals before making an inauspicious DVD review (even a few months after that US disc release, it has yet to accrue enough reviews for even a Rotten Tomatoes rating).