Room 0

Disclaimer: the director is an old friend and I received a screener, but I tried to write the most objective review possible.

Room 0 is the perfect example of how you do a microbudget indie science fiction movie. With its single lead character, one claustrophobic location, and a plot that takes advantage of the lack of resources and turns them into a framework for a twisting story, writer-director Richard Kodai managed not only to create a gripping story but even to increase momentum from scene to scene, so the movie never feels sluggish. Even though at its core Room 0 relies on a sci-fi trope that has been used in various movies and TV series, this take still feels fresh. Special mention to lead actress Remy Chartier who carries the entire movie on her own with a wide range of emotions. Even the voice actors have the necessary gravitas. I only have some minor gripes, like tiny sound issues or the lack of certain scenes that could have made some plot elements even more understandable, but these are all small issues, probably due to budget constraints. Much recommended!

There are a lot of people in the world who want to be writers, actors, directors, etc. Independent films gives them a place to go and I always try to support them whenever possible. There was an interview I saw with Mr. Kodai and I believe he said he made this movie on a shoestring, like seven thousand dollars. Jeez Louise, considering how much everything costs these days he did a bang up job with this one. Good script, too. Now, on to something that bugged me. The actress is Natalya Wood, Remy is a guy. The woman did a great job and you guys should fix this. She acted her heart out and I think everyone on this project did it because it was a labor of love and a lot of fun, something you might not see anymore in the big production Hollywood films.

As a lover of independent films I never know what I'm going to get. Will it be a campy film or one that makes you think. Luckily Room 0 was the latter. It starts out with the young woman and a mysterious box. The box is explained in act 2.

The film used its budget wisely as the young woman was "trapped" in the motel room. This used the limitations as an advantage rather than a disadvantage. The box was also used for transition between "days."

This film reminds me of Clerks in that they used what was available and wrote around it. When you don't have millions to work with, you have to be creative.

All in all this was a great movie and I'm looking forward to the director's future work.

The 2024 mystery thriller from writer and director Richard Kodai was a movie that I hadn't heard about when I sat down to watch it. So all I knew about it was was the information I got from the synopsis. I will say, though, that the synopsis sounded interesting enough to make me have an interest.

But the end result of the movie was not all that interesting. I found the narrative to be rather bland and devoid of anything overly interesting or thrilling. And I have to admit that the movie got repetitive rather quickly. Sure, that was the point of the time loop narrative, but since it was devoid of overly interesting things happening and a rather slow pacing, then sitting through "Room 0" was somewhat of a struggle.

The movie has a very small cast list, with the majority being voice actors only. The acting performances in the movie were fair, but the actors and actresses didn't really have all that much to work with. I wasn't familiar with a single actor or actress in the movie, and that is actually something that I do enjoy when I sit down to watch a movie.

I have to say that "Room 0" fell short of entertaining me, and this is definitely not a movie that I will ever return to watch a second time. Nor is it a movie that I will recommend for fans of mystery thrillers to sit down and watch. This movie is no "Groundhog Day" movie, far from it actually.

My rating of writer and director Richard Kodai's 2024 movie lands on a generous two out of ten stars.

Time looping, it is a dangerous thing to be stuck in one especially if you aren't aware you are. This young girl who is tasked with the job to deliver a mysterious black box to a gangster gets trapped in a motel room after she inadvertently drops the box and sets off the loop effect. She does not realize this quite possibly for months till a scientist calls her ( not sure how he knew how to get a hold of her...but) and coaches her on how to control the loops and even increase their time before starting over. An interesting ride as she does kind of what bill Murray did by getting much better at certain skills that will assist her in breaking the loop, if she even can. One thing seems to be the case though, she never does seem to break the loop but has learned to just not reset it and live in it for the rest of her life, as long as she doesn't reset it. Not a lot of action and is basically all done in one room, action is implied and so is violence but nothing shown. Nothing questionable, no nudity, lots of foul language. For the very very low budget ( I think only about 7000.00 dollars was spent) they did an excellent job telling the story and making sense of it all. A fun watch. Not what you'd expect. Enjoy!