MOVIE: Welcome to the Quiet Room (2007)

Welcome to the Quiet Room
(クワイエットルームにようこそ)
2007
direction: Suzuki, M.
screenplay: Suzuki, M.

quickie:
An aspiring writer living with a TV comedian wakes up to the bright lights of a psychiatric ward which is more like a rehab for girls with eating disorders

general impression:
Funny, Quiet.

lows:
Scenes are a bit disjointed, characters could have used more depth, the fact that the psychiatric ward only has anorexic and bulimic patients, offers no peace for people who can relate to Yuki Uchida’s character

highs:
Ryo as Nurse Eguchi, funny moments, doesn’t say anything about sanity or insanity

notes:
I suppose some might be tempted to recall movies like One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest or Girl, Interrupted. Movies have dealt with the whole concept of sane people having dysfunctions, subtly stating that we’re all crazy anyway.

Personally, I thought Asuka Sakura (Uchida) is one of those sane people with your average amount of dysfunction. She’s constantly trying to cope with some undefined obstacle by hiding in idiotic television shows, standing very close to the edge until she loses her balance and falls.

Although the movie still lacks that emphatic touch, it does evoke the sense of being lost. Where do these people go? They’re not crazy enough that they set their hair on fire but they’re not functioning well enough without alcohol, nicotine, sleeping pills or just a daily dose of stupid TV shows.

As the movie points out, we’re only sane if someone says so. In Asuka’s case, her claim to sanity is a pothead who shows his butt on television for a living. Does that make sense?

Miki’s (Yuu) logic presents the fact that you have to be crazy to be able to live with everyone else. She develops an eating disorder after she realizes the truth: someone else who deserves the food she eats is starving. And she is unable to deal with that.

What is sane? To know this truth and escape from it?

The movie is easy on the eyes but it lacks a “feel” which make it seem average at best. However, the actors are delightful and the writing is a step above your typical Thursday movie.

Watch this movie, if only for Nurse Eguchi played by Ryou. Hilarious.

FINAL RATING:
[3.5] out of [5]