A likable (if not perfect) Almodovar film in English.

Pedro Almodovar’s English language short films were “The Human Voice” and “Strange Way of Life,” and his English language feature debut is “The Room Next Door.” Just look at the color palettes used in his films, including his latest entry. I bet screenshots of select scenes from the movie would be featured on an Instagram paged called “Color Palette Cinema,” and I highly recommend following them. Whether the filmmaker’s entries are spoken in English or Spanish, they really are attractive films with such a strangeness and ambiance that distinguishes him from other filmmakers.

“The Room Next Door” also allows Almodovar to reunite with his “Human Voice” star Tilda Swinton as a terminally ill woman named Martha, who feels deteriorated from the treatments, especially since they aren’t curing her. So, this would be a good time to reunite with her old author friend Ingrid (Julianne Moore). Or it could be part of her suicide plan. I think it’s both, especially since Martha would write a note to the police saying Ingrid had nothing to do with her death.

As far as I’m concerned it would be difficult for the police to believe that Ingrid had nothing to do with her suicide plan, unless she says the right words. As a film critic, I’ve seen a lot of movies and shows, and it just goes to show you the persistence and pressure within. So, you hope that Martha’s plan is ingenious.

I saw this movie a few months ago at the Chicago International Film Festival, and the audience and I were laughing at the strangeness within, while taking the drama seriously at the same time. I can’t spoil the detailed plans for Martha’s suicide plan, but it does have its key elements worth looking closely at. Sometimes, it can tickle us, and other times, it can keep us at the edge of our seats. And all times, this is never handled in such a mean-spirited fashion. I mention that because there are movies that like to screw with us, and I can read between the lines.

“The Room Next Door” is not a perfect Almodovar film, because there’s a flashback sequence that uses corny dialogue that wouldn’t be worthy of an Almodovar piece. And the story doesn’t excel his last feature “Parallel Mothers” in terms of the directions it takes. But the movie is still an Almodovar entry, regarding his characters and their situations and plans.

Swinton and Moore are both exceptional in the ways they handle the screenplay with timing and persistence. They also act and feel like characters worthy of an Almodovar piece, especially in a sentimental hospital scene when Martha praises the pink snow falling from the sky. She presents her viewings in such a poetic manner, that you can tell the filmmaker can make American movies, as well as his usual Spanish films.

After “Gloria Bell,” we get another “Big Lebowski” reunion between Moore and John Turturro as another writer, whose themes regard climate change and had a fling with both Martha and Ingrid. Nowadays, it’s mostly Ingrid. In fact, for security measures, he’s the only one she tells about the suicide plan to.

When talking about American films and foreign films, there is a distinction based on how the dialogue is written, how the story plays out, and who the target audience are supposed to be. It’s often suggested that there’s a whole new world in the international circuit, and it’s usually true.”The Room Next Door” is, again, not the first English piece Almodovar has made, but it likes to think so. And given his first English short and now this feature, I think he and Swinton have chemistry.

In Select Theaters This Friday