A good fashion sense in this murder trial.
When I see the title for “Red Rooms,” I think of “REDRUM,” which every movie fan knows is “MURDER” spelled backwards. Thanks for that “Shining.”
Two months apart, we have gotten riveting movies about serial killers and the people trying to investigate deeper into their crimes. There was “Longlegs” with Nicolas Cage playing a Satanist killer and Maika Monroe as the FBI agent trying to solve his puzzle. And now, we have the French-Canadian movie “Red Rooms,” which, instead, has the killer in a reserved state on trial and a young woman looking into the investigation, while dealing with her own issues.
This time, the story is set in Montreal, Canada, and as the film begins, there’s the trial of Ludvic Chevalier-A.K.A the Demon of Rosemont (Maxwell McCabe-Lokos)-who is facing multiple charges including the murder of three teenagers. He also tortured, dismembered, and filmed them for the dark web in what is called a “Red Room.” And two of the videos are going to be shown in the court, while the third one has yet to be uncovered.
Could this man be innocent? Because he has no criminal record, the murderer was wearing a mask, and the videos were on Ludvic’s computer because he may have been hacked. And we don’t get much convincing, since the defendant is despondent, like he feels no remorse.
The young model, hacker, and online gambler Kelly-Anne (Juliette Gariepy) is attending his trial because she is interested to see what the Demon of Rosemont looked like. That is if he really is guilty of the unspeakable crimes. With some help from her smart AI named Guinevere, she begins playing detective.
She also makes friends with a young hitchhiker from 100 km away named Clementine (Laurie Babin), who believes Ludvic is innocent, while a majority of people think he’s guilty as sin. And they even think she’s crazy when she calls on a talk show to speak for the defendant.
About Kelly-Anne’s AI. She can only speak English, which isn’t a problem for her owner. But her greatest qualities include it being impenetrable for anyone to hack it, and she can safely access the dark web for anything crucial to the case. Leave it to her owner to be sure of that.
If I were to testify under oath, I would say that I didn’t understand everything going on in the story, because it takes different directions. But I did acknowledge that the film wants to have another approach to this genre. It’s not much about the killer, but rather how a woman goes through his investigation through her own hacking and unorthodox ways. There are some courtroom scenes that win your attention, and how she handles those moments are genuinely well-acted by Gariepy. And the actress has her pulsating moments outside the trial, regarding her model career, her gambling, and her exercise routines.
Writer/director Pascal Plante (“Nadia, Butterfly,” “Fake Tattoos”) presents “Red Rooms” with patience and consistency, and wants us to see where this murder mystery will go. Does every film of the genre have to be the same? No, and I give credit to all the filmmakers to take their own approaches. And this movie is an entertaining and gorgeous-looking puzzle. And I’m still having REDRUM vibes with the title.
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