MATTHEW WOTHERSPOON
This December at the New Globe Theatre sees the return of the best, worst movie ever made, giving fans and curious cinephiles the chance to see Tommy Wiseau’s The Room on the big screen.
A genuine classic of midnight cinema, Tommy Wiseau’s erroneous masterpiece subverts the mainstream conventions of film genre and narrative, and delivers a bizarre drama that leaves audiences scratching their head.
Written, directed and produced by the lead star Tommy Wiseau, The Room illustrates the life of Johnny, a successful banker, and the whirlwind affair occurring behind his back between his fiancee, Lisa and his best friend, Mark.
While the film is mainly centred on the love triangle involving these three characters, the narrative also includes the lives and problems of other characters, like Denny, a teenage boy with an unclear connection to Johnny, Claudette; Lisa’s sassy mother, and Peter; a George Costanza-like character, who only really pops up in unnecessary roof top or street scenes.
While the film may sound good in theory, Wiseau’s directorial debut crosses lines on a number of filmic levels, with almost every scene containing an infinite amount of errors.
The script is poorly timed, with the dialogue generally just irrelevant banter thrown back and forth between each character.
Further adding to the mundanity, majority of scenes take place in only two settings; a badly green screened roof top social hub, and Johnny’s house, a confusing two story, two room house.
Ironically though, it’s Wiseau that is the driving force in this film.
From his arbitrary changes in topic during conversation to his unidentifiable accent, audiences learn to omit to his questionable acting skills and instead admire his mystery and mane of black hair.
The film’s entirety is a slow venture through a maze of strange events, as we are exposed to irrelevant sub-plots, like a case of unexplained breast cancer, violent drug dealers, and excessively long sex scenes.
Overall, The Room fails to deliver as a drama, due to its badly structured narrative and lackluster character performances, but instead delivers an acclaimed cult classic, full of quotable content and scandalous affairs.
But while one would assume The Room merely exists as a sideshow attraction only to be mocked, Wiseau and many others insist The Room is much more than what’s on the surface.
Over time, YouTube and word-of-mouth has helped fuel the cult phenomenon that is, The Room, and now countries all over the world play host to thousands of event screenings all in celebration of Wiseau’s masterpiece.
Organiser of the New Globe Theatre screenings of The Room, Kristian Fletcher said screenings of The Room have been nothing but organic, highlighting the passion local fans have for the intriguing cult drama.
“I have run cult/classic movie events in Brisbane for sixteen years and witnessing the devotion at a screening of THE ROOM, I knew it was something that I should feature in my regular programming,” Mr Fletcher said.
“I haven’t seen such audience participation since THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW. It almost verges on manic.”
“The spoon throwing, the mocking of Wiseau’s accented dialogue and the bizarre tracking shots.”
Despite the film opening to poor reviews, The Room’s unorthodox filmic methods and flawed-but-intriguing narrative is what helped the film become a spectacle among the international cinema scene.
“It’s rewritten the template for the modern cult movie. It’s not sci-fi, it’s not fantasy… it’s not a musical… it’s a straight movie and people pick out their own faults and favourite bits,” Mr Fletcher said.
“These people yell insults about the quality of the film, whilst praising its as the greatest movie ever made.
“The ultimate in cult devotion, and THE ROOM is definitely the perfect example of a contemporary cult phenomenon.
The first screening held on Friday, October 3 opened to a sold out audience, who embraced Wiseau’s film by throwing spoons at the screen and dressing as their favourite characters (see A Viewer’s Guide to The Room).
The final screening is on Friday, December 2 at the New Globe Theatre.
To book for upcoming screenings, visit www.kristianfletcher.com or for more information, visit www.facebook.com/roombrisbane.