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Friday, 28 November 2014

Roommate


Also Known As:
Unknown
Year:
2011
Country/ies:
US
Predominant Genre:
Thriller
Director:
Christian E Christiansen
Outstanding Performances:
None
Premiss:
Female college student finds that her new roommate has an obsession with her, which quickly turns violent.
Themes:
Alienation
Destiny
Emotional repression
Grieving
Identity
Loneliness
Narcissism
Self-expression
Sexism
Sexual Repression
Social class
Solipsism
Totalitarianism
White culture
White guilt
Similar (in Plot, Theme or Style) to:
Single White Female
Review Format:
DVD

Erotophobia & Lebensraum

Bizarre White film suggesting White men can only get sex from White women if they find an odd excuse to talk to them; eg, spill beer down their pert chests or abuse their power as university lecturers to fondle teenage students.

The rampant White sexism here is not muted by context since all the men are inadequate with women; leading to an unsurprising lesbianism among women who are socially freer with each other than they are with the inappropriately-aggressive jerks presented here as representative of White masculinity.

The girls all look nice in their sexually-bland Caucasian way; eg, trying hard to look as though they have no deep-seated emotions. But the lack of both character differentiation (although socially accurate about Whites) and dearth of and character motivation makes for weak drama.

Unable to identify with any of the characters and, thus, care about what happens to them creates a catwalk of a movie rather than a fully-fledged story. The central character studying fashion and style at university becomes a perfect metaphor for the inherent formalism of the piece; mocking its absurd attempt to appeal to feminists.

Ultimately, a movie about Whites’ inability to get on with other Whites enough to be able to share the same space - other than politically. A thankfully short exercise in would-be audience manipulation.


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