In My Room

What if the apocalypse happens not with a bang but with a whimper? And what if you were the only survivor but didn’t have an affinity for life in the first place? These are some of the questions explored with droll humor in the latest film by Ulrich Köhler (Sleeping Sickness). After falling asleep in his car, Armin awakens to find that everyone around him has vanished. What it means for him to be truly alone, and whether he actually is, are but two of the many revelations the film has in store.

“There are myriad pleasures in Köhler’s film, not least the guessing game he makes the audience play about what kind of movie they’re watching. Sci-fi? Comedy? Horror? Drama? The smattering of all of the above slowly gives way to a deliberate purgatorial holding pattern. There’s joy and misery, promise and disappointment. His camera has to consistently remain open and surprised but confident in order for the sustained effect of his dramatic scheme to hold. Each cut brings us further away from what we thought we were watching and into delectable surprise.”—Scout Tafoya, RogerEbert.com