Written by Zoe Crombie

As Parasite director Bong Joon-ho decreed in his 2020 Golden Globes acceptance speech, ‘once you overcome the one-inch-tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films’. He, of course, is right – if you’re an avid film watcher and you only stick to movies in your own language, you’re barely going to make a dent in what cinema has to offer. This makes it all the more intriguing when directors shift from language to language, including Bong himself with 2013’s Snowpiercer, and most recently the legendary Pedro Almodóvar, who has just released his first feature length English language film in a career spanning over five decades.

With the same vividness and energy as films like All About My Mother and Volver, The Room Next Door carries Almodóvar’s characteristic style across linguistic boundaries. Anchored as so many of his films are by strong-willed leading ladies playing well developed characters – in this case, Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore as a pair of old friends – the film is an exuberant exploration of death that could only have been done by a director with a famously deft approach to the highs and lows of melodrama.

Film is one of the best mediums available for understanding and empathising with people and cultures across all barriers – having won the Golden Lion at Venice Film Festival with The Room Next Door, it’s clear that Almodóvar’s talent translates to any language.

Catch 8th - 14th, 22nd & 26th - 28th Nov

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