Time to review the great Julio Medem’s most recent release – his 2010 romantic drama, “Habitación en Roma” [Eng. title: Room in Rome]..
The film is at least partly inspired by the 2004 Chilean drama, ‘En la Cama‘, acknowledged by Sr. Medem himself, where a couple meet for the first time one evening, and decide to spend the night together – during the course of the night, their encounter transforms into something rather deep. The major departure from the Chilean film is of course, the fact that this couple comprises two women.
Since Julio Medem is one of the most important directors in world cinema today, it is but mandatory to discuss any of his films, and this one is no exception. Personally though, I think this is one of Medem’s more straightforward films – but while not as brilliantly clever and surreal as Tierra, La Ardilla Roja, Lucia y el Sexo, or as breathtakingly beautiful as Los Amantes del Circulo Polar, it still amply showcases Medem’s trademark lyricism, and this is a production made with ‘great love’. The cinematography is beautiful, the soundtrack delightful, the direction, editing and sound engineering masterfully done. Even if you ignore the fact that this is a Julio Medem film, it is a good movie.
While Elena Anaya has matured into a complete actress, Natasha Yarovenko fills in her role adequately – Natasha of course has been cast specifically for her physical beauty – and Medem quite rightly shows her in the best possible light..!
I’ve made my own edit for these clips as that would otherwise give too much of the story away – most of the dialogues are in English and I don’t want to spoil your experience if you were considering watching the whole film (yes you should). Rest assured though, not much is lost in these clips, ‘visually’ speaking of course – besides these are from HD (1080pp), and well worth the download – enjoy..!
Note: These scens were cut a while earlier, hence no custom graphics, but hope to add them at a later date.
Scene 1:
Scene 2:
Scene 3:
Scene 4:– Exquisitely done..! Julio Medem at his best.
Scene 5:
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Scene 8:
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Download Links
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
(All parts required. Unpack with WinRar)
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Hi girls. I can say I loved this film sooo much, I find it the best film I have ever watched. One cold night I met a beautiful stranger and we had passionate night. I am now in my own country she is in hers, terribly missing her. There is such a big distance between us now, and I watched this film I felt I want to be with her again. Thank u for this film.
I’m glad it brought back fond memories, and you’re very welcome..! 🙂
A rather belated comment, I know, but I make it nonetheless. Your statement that Natasha Yarovenko was cast mainly for her beauty is incorrect. I attended the press conference given by Medem, the producer and both actresses before the film’s world premiere at the Film Festival of Malaga. At the conference Medem and Elena Anaya spoke at length about the casting of the character of Natasha. Medem explained that the character had always been conceived as being Russian and he wanted a Russian actress to play her. Elena Anaya was cast in her role from the beginning, in fact, Julio Medem wrote the part of Alba especially for her.
As a lot of the film would hinge on the chemistry between the two women, Anaya was also deeply involved with the casting. They both travelled to Moscow and auditioned dozens of actresses. Finally they cast one who they explained was very good and loved the script, and returned to Spain to start pre-production. The day before the Russian actress (they never mentioned her name for obvious reasons) was due to fly to Madrid (where the film was to be shot), her boyfriend (or fiancé, I can’t quite remember) got hold of the script, read it and point blank forbade her to partake in the film. Apparently, though devastated, she obeyed and withdrew from the film. That left Medem without his second star just a couple of weeks before shooting was to commence.
While going through the audition tapes from Russia, he and his producer also spread word around the acting community in Spain, though Medem was still loath to have a Spanish actress play the part sporting a Russian accent. As luck would have it, a friend of the producer had just heard of (or seen, can’t remember) a young Russian actress living and working (mainly on stage) in Barcelona. Apart from being good, she also spoke perfect Spanish.
As Medem’s English is not very good by his own admission, this was a very welcome bonus. A meeting between Medem, Anaya and Yarovenko was arranged and all three of them apparently hit it off together right from the start. She loved the script, wasn’t too daunted by the nudity, even though she hadn’t done it before, and so got the part. That she is very striking & attractive (even more so in the flesh!), was, again, an added bonus.
Obviously, unlike Elena Anaya, she had very little time to prepare for the character. And while her inexperience (on film) shows here and there, I think all in all her performance is very good indeed. I have since seen her in a couple of other things, playing very different characters, and she has grown into a really good character actress (check her out in the Spanish tv series ‘El Capitan Alatriste’).
If anyone is interested, there is a review I wrote at the time and published on Imdb.
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Thanks for your forceful argument against my original review, which I find fair and illuminating. But in my defence, while I didn’t touch on Medem’s exploration of femininity, I wasn’t actually critical in my review. I merely felt it didn’t live up to my own expectations raised from his earlier classics. At least we can agree on Medem’s craftsmanship as a eminent auteur, and his towering contribution to modern Spanish cinema. As an ardent follower of his films (I think all of his feature films are mentioned here), I keenly look forward to his future projects, and if you’re inclined to share, hope to have your comments on his other films too.
Hi, sorry, it was never my intention to argue against your review, I quite agree with what you said. I only felt your comment that Natasha Yarovenko was manly chosen for her physical appearance needed correcting :).
Yes, I’d gladly leave some comments on Medem’s other films films!