Roman

I watched and watched and kept thinking 'i'll give it ten more minutes'. The film is obviously low budget, (maybe more financial interest may have hurried it along a bit). The lead actor is great, he plays the role great, definitely the type of guy you'd avoid. However,he sits in his apartment, and he sits, and he sits, and he sits, and he goes to work, and then home, and then work and then home....get the point.

There are people out there like that, and the story line is menacing, but for heavens sake... hurry it along a bit. Surely in the pre-release stage, someone must have started fidgeting in the first ten minutes and said to the producer, 'shall we go back and tweak it to make it more interesting?' I can only assume that the response was...'too late the money's ran out' Enough said, go shopping instead!

"May" surely was one of the most impressive & remarkable debuts in the horror genre ever, the short but masterful Masters of Horror episode "Sick Girl" definitely proved that they weren't just a one-hit-wonder and now, with "Roman", Angela Bettis and Lucky McKee make it clear that they're here to stay! Even though not on par with the two aforementioned titles, "Roman" is one of the most enchanting and artistically creative stories of the last few years and it's guaranteed to have at least some kind of emotional impact on you. Even though the characters drawings and atmosphere building is somewhat similar to "May", this is not a real horror film. "Roman" actually can't be categorized in just one genre, as McKee and Bettis professionally blend together sinister horror, pitch-black comedy, melodrama and psychological thriller aspects. It's a tragic & hugely ironic tale of love vs. loneliness and how they can both turn out disastrously. Lucky McKee – pretty damn good in his first real lead performance – is Roman, an unhealthy introvert metal worker with an extremely depressing life-style. He doesn't talk to any of his colleagues, always eats the same pork & beans dinner and drinks the same type of beer and dreadfully fears simple things like TV. The highlight of each day is for him to sit in front of his apartment window at 5.30pm and observe his ravishing neighbor as she goes to collect the letters in her mailbox. When he finally meets her in person (following her OWN initiative), Roman loses his mind and kills her in brief a moment of rage and despair. Realizing the crime he committed, he punishes himself by staying indoors even more and ritually disposes of the girl's body parts every Sunday. The attractive new neighbor then develops a romantic interest in him, but she has issues and obsessions that even surpass those of Roman. Quite a few people blame "Roman" for its predictable ending but, even though I agree it's unsurprising, I didn't think it affected the film in a negative way. This film almost introduces a new type of predictability! Although you know what's coming, you still somewhat hope that things will work out positively for Roman because, despite of what he did, he's a truly likable and pitiable character. Angela Bettis constantly maintains an extremely moody and harrowing atmosphere, and the film is literally stuffed with unconventional jokes and wickedly comical situations. The wholesome actually becomes a bit disturbing, because you just know people like Roman really exist! Moreover, we all know someone in our own surrounding who rarely ever talks and always keeps a distance from the rest of the group. Makes you think what he/she does when nobody's watching, doesn't it? The camera-work as well as the editing often looks ugly and amateurish, but personally I thought even this suited the tone of the film. The soundtrack is downright sublime and McKee receives great feedback from his two bewitching female co-stars Nectar Rose and Kristen Bell. Not for everyone, but highly recommended in case you have a weakness for atmosphere-driven and genuinely moving dramas.

"Roman" takes the form of a thriller, but functions more as a surprisingly low key character study. An isolated, sad, socially awkward young man works at a factory where he has no friends, and lives alone in a depressing apartment. His only joy is watching a beautiful young neighbor he fantasizes about. In a stroke of luck he ends up on a date with her, but things go horribly, tragically wrong. Before long he has struck up a relationship with a new, free-spirited but death obsessed young artist who has moved into the building, but he remains unable to fully invest himself in the relationship, largely for fear of things going wrong again.

The film was shot on low quality video, and looks very rough, but there are times when that adds to the intimate 'reality' feel. At other times it just looks a little cheap. There's a surprising amount of humor, and Lucky McKee, who wrote the script as well as playing the lead does a good job a creating a very strange protagonist you still find yourself feeling for. Certainly this has it's fair share of flaws, and moments that don't quite come off, but it has originality and bravery on it's side, and in it's best moments it achieves a sort of David Lynch vibe. For a first feature Angela Bettis acquits herself nicely.

I didn't really know what to expect when I started watching this. Maybe a bit of horror based on the cover and back cover description. It turns out it's some kind of intimate drama with very little horror or gore. Yes, there is death but you won't necessarily realize it's the case right away. A lonely, very tall, socially inept metal welder spends most of its free time drinking beer and smoking in his small, motel-like apartment sitting on his comfy chair looking out the window. At one point, he starts being obsessed with a pretty blonde woman going to get her mail at the same time each day, but doesn't dare contact her. Unlikely as it seems, she makes first contact and they start becoming friends. A while later, at his apartment, a tragic accident occurs.

Despite getting main credit, Kirsten Bell, the blonde woman, is not much in the film and is by far the best, most natural actor of the bunch. The "star" is the actor-director Lucky Mckee who acts expressionless most of the time. Appropriate for the character, but easy to act. The other main actress, Nectar Rose, was definitely bad, fake and overacting despite playing an eccentric character. Her arrival provided an interesting twist, but also took me out of the story as she was not believable. The other worse actor was the fat building manager who, I guess, was supposed to be comic relief but just ended up making things even more caricatural. The main character was creepy, disturbing and a bit sad, but more in his passivity and lack of expression. A better actor, especially with his eyes, would have helped. The story had a fairly interesting concept, but it didn't feel as well developed and captivating as it could have been. The pace was slow and contemplative with a little creativity shown in the daydreams. I find the whole movie was brought down by the poor acting and by being tedious. However, it was slightly saved by the somewhat poetic justice of the ending.

Rating: 3 out of 10 (poor)

Jeez...apparently, Lucky McKee can do no wrong. Like an album by an indie artist buried under a pile of Top 40 junk, it is often hard to remember that the horror genre DOES have an existence outside of Rob Zombie, Eli Roth, and the "Saw" franchise. But is "Roman" really a horror film? McKee himself has found the tag questionable, as his films are more about relationships than anything else. "Roman," directed by actress Angela Bettis, is a gender reversal on McKee's breakout debut, "May" (in which Bettis starred), but blossoms into yet another singularly unique entity. Roman (McKee, who also scripted) is a remote, shy welder who leads a lonely existence; his daily excitement comes from sitting in front of his apartment window as an anonymous, beautiful girl (Kristen Bell) walks by; when the duo finally hook up, it meets an unexpected end. While McKee's hangdog expression can be overdone at times, he nails the nuances of a tormented, lovelorn guy, which becomes even more complex when Eva (the beautiful Nectar Rose), a foliage-wearing artist, enters his life. The beauty of watching "Roman" unravel is this awareness of relationship mechanics--seldom does character motivation feel contrived, nor does it come off with a sanitized "Hollywood" feel (the use of DV further helps this). As with "May," McKee finds ways to make potential shock-value scenes play with a tenderness (or humor) that is even more effective. And maybe as a titular nod to Polanski, the film bears a similarity to that director's tales of paranoid and/or sexually confused apartment-dwellers trying to sustain a day-to-day existence without (literally) killing someone. "Roman" is a wonderful film, sure to be on my "Best of 2007" list (even though it came out last year).