Bedrooms & Hallways (1999)

3 1/2 Stars (out of 4)

Sheet Music

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Bedrooms & Hallways is the second feature by Rose Troche, whose remarkableGo Fish I saw and fell in love with in 1994. Although it's been five yearsbetween movies, Bedrooms & Hallways more than lives up to the promise Trocheshowed in Go Fish.

The first thing I noticed about Bedrooms & Hallways was its remarkable use of color, which was all the more incredible because Go Fish was shot in black-and-white. Troche also opens this film up spatially, showing a masterful use of form. I don't know how she managed to develop so far and so fast on only her second film, but she shows a great artful skill that makes me think of no less than Vincente Minnelli (An American in Paris).

Troche also seems aware of the danger of being pigeonholed as a "lesbian" filmmaker. To that end, Bedrooms & Hallways focuses on a trio of flatmates: two gay men and one straight woman. Over the course of the movie several men who thought they were straight turn out to be gay, and one character who thought he was gay ends up with a woman. The gifted cast includes: Kevin McKidd (Trainspotting), Jennifer Ehle (Wilde), Simon Callow (Four Weddings and a Funeral), and Hugo Weaving (The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert). Bedrooms & Hallways is a juggernaut of filmmaking and a smart play on expectations and genre limitations. Troche is also clever enough to move her story from the Chicago of Go Fish to London, essentially making her movie a "British" comedy.

I eagerly await Ms. Troche's next movie. She has it in her to make musicals, operas, or Shakespeare, all bursting with life and color.