It's always fascinating to see the early works of filmmakers, and thanks to its re-release, The Second Room is no exception. First films can be pretty hit and miss, make that mostly miss, but getting a peak at the cinematic jumping off point from 1995 for director Bryan Simon, was pretty terrific. I'd love to see where his filmmaking takes him a few decades from now with three films now under his belt.
Director Simon handles Ron Winterstein's cleverly layered script expertly and he is aided by great cinematography from veteran DP Lloyd Freidus. Winterstein's story follows Stanley, a bored architect who desires more from life, but doesn't have a clue where to start until he spies Moira and believes she has the answer. His daily routine of sharpening his pencils and placing them perfectly in a drawer seems to be all he has going on until Moira unknowing leads Stanley down a path from which he can never return. Richard Neil gives a strong and compelling performance as Stanley and C. C. Pulitzer is haunting as the beautiful Moria, the object of Stanley's misplaced attention. Films are often thought of as only a visual medium, but The Second Room is much more than that; words, images and a killer jazz soundtrack collide to make a very well executed and wonderfully complicated piece.
Actually, I watched The Second Room twice and found even more things to think about the second time around. A cleaner transfer from film to tape to digital media would have been nice, and a director's commentary track in the extras would have been cool, but it's understandable that the distributor would want to keep costs on a re-release to a minimum. This 21 minute film, keep in mind I didn't say short for good reason, feels like a feature film because there's as much going on here as in many studio or independent features today. New filmmakers could take a lesson from Simon and Winterstein when considering making a five or six minute short to showcase their talent. Less is not always more.
