Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		4.0

Room in Rome Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov November 17, 2010

Spanish director Julio Medem's "Habitación en Roma" a.k.a. "Room in Rome" (2010) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Optimum Home Entertainment. The only supplemental feature on the disc is the film's original theatrical trailer. In English, Spanish, Russian, and Italian, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

Alba

Julio Medem's Room in Rome reminded me about Chilean director Matias Bize's wonderful En la cama (In Bed). In Bize’s film a man and a woman meet in a bar and then spend the night together in a rundown motel. They make love, talk about their lives, most intimate desires and darkest secrets. In the morning, they part ways.

In Medem’s Room in Rome two women meet in a bar somewhere in the Eternal City. We don’t know how. We first meet them as they debate whether or not to spend the night together.

The women - both young and very beautiful - end up in an elegant hotel room where a terrific game of seduction begins. One of them has been with a woman before; the other hasn’t. The inexperienced one is slightly nervous but certainly not uncomfortable. Eventually, the clothes come off.

Later on, the women begin talking. We learn that 'Alba' (Elena Anaya, Sex and Lucia, Hierro) is from Spain while 'Natasha' (Natasha Yarovenko, Negro Buenos Aires) is from Russia. This is their last night in Rome. We also learn that Natasha is a tennis player. Wait, no, she isn’t. She is an actress who has come to Rome together with her twin sister to celebrate her future marriage to a man she has loved for years. But the two apparently had an argument, which is why Natasha ended up with Alba.

Alba was once married to a Saudi prince. But she ran away and ended up in Greece. Wait, that’s not it. Actually, it was her mother that married the Saudi prince and ran away. Alba was born in Greece but raised in Spain. She fell in love with Edurne (Najwa Nimri, Lovers of the Arctic Circle) and for awhile life was beautiful. It is true. Alba has a video on her phone that proves it. But something terrible happened and Alba had to leave Spain.

Alba and Natasha make love again. Then they talk again and we learn that there is a lot more to their stories that they initially left out. Now everything makes sense. Soon Alba and Natasha will have to make important decisions that will change their lives forever. They should be happy - but are they?

Almost dawn. Natasha asks Alba to promise her that no one will ever learn about their one-night stand. Alba asks Natasha to close her eyes and imagine the two of them never leaving Rome, being happy, being forever in love. Suddenly, Cupid pierces Alba’s heart with his arrow and she collapses.

Beautiful does not even begin to describe Medem’s Room in Rome. The Spanish director’s camera slowly moves around the elegant hotel room and then carefully observes the naked bodies of the two women as they make love and later on tell the stories of their lives. Each frame is incredibly elegant, each scene is gorgeous.

A lot could have gone wrong with Room in Rome - the sex could have been cheap looking and the dialog unbearable. Instead the story flows, each revelation making the next one that much more fascinating. Then there are the beautiful paintings in the room, suggesting how the one-night stand might end.

Anaya and Yarovenko’s acting is outstanding. Their terrific range of emotions and fantastic character transformations are what make Room in Rome worth seeing.

*Earlier this year, Room in Rome was screened at the Malaga Film Festival, Seattle International Film Festival, and Donostia-San Sebastian International Film Festival.

Room in Rome Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Julio Medem's Room in Rome arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Optimum Home Entertainment.

This is a very strong high-definition transfer. Fine object detail is excellent (even during the many darker scenes), clarity pleasing, and contrast levels consistent throughout the entire film. The color-scheme is also excellent - the many blues, yellows, reds, greens, browns, blacks, and whites looks rich and well saturated but also natural. There are a couple of scenes where I noticed a few traces of mild edge-enhancement (the most obvious ones are during the shower scene), but their presence is certainly not problematic. Macroblocking is nowhere to be seen. There are no distracting compression artifacts either. Furthermore, blown through a digital projector Room in Rome looks gorgeous - the high-definition transfer conveys wonderful depth and crispness; many of the close-ups, for instance, are simply beautiful to look at. Lastly, I did no detect any purely transfer-related anomalies to report in this review. All in all, this is yet another fine release by the folks at Optimum Home Entertainment. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

Room in Rome Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and English LPCM 2.0 (with portions of Spanish, Russian, and Italian). For the record, Optimum Home Entertainment have provided optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. When turned on, they split the image frame and the black bar below it.

The English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is solid. The bass is not overly active but pleasing, the rear channels intelligently used, and the high-frequencies not overdone. Jocelyn Pook's music is essential, and the loseless audio track treats it exceptionally well. The dialog is crisp, clean, and stable. Also, even though some of the accents are rather strong, I had absolutely no problem understanding what was being said. Lastly, I did not detect any disturbing pops, cracks, or audio dropouts to report in this review.

Room in Rome Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Trailer - the original theatrical trailer for Room in Rome. In English, with imposed English subtitles. (2 min, 1080p).

Room in Rome Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Julio Medem's Room in Rome truly is one of this year's most beautiful films - simple yet so elegant. The Blu-ray disc herein reviewed, courtesy of British distributors Optimum Home Entertainment, looks and sounds terrific. It is, however, Region-B "locked". Now let's hope that Lovers of the Arctic Circle is not too far behind. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.