'The Room Next Door' talks about a friendship rekindled by the two main female characters, which becomes a relationship similar to romantic love, but without love’s inconveniences. The film also leaves us with thoughts about death and dying...

| Apr 25, 2025

Does being able to die at one’s own hand at the moment one chooses really seem the most pressing issue in America or the world today?

| Apr 24, 2025

The Room Next Door wrestles with life’s most difficult questions in a gently moving and profound manner, and is as elegantly directed and acted as we’d expect from this level of elite talent.

| Apr 21, 2025

Few contemporary filmmakers are as attentive to the radiance of light and color, shape, the glow of light in and on women’s eyes. <i>The Room Next Door</i> is a world of primary colors, of patches and blocks of red and green, bold Hockney-style splashes.

| Original Score: 5/10 | Feb 13, 2025

There is a cultural divide that doesn't quite translate in the way they talk to each other, but after about a half an hour, you go with it.

| Feb 11, 2025

It is quite lovely in all the ways a Pedro Almodóvar movie can be. Striking and strange.

| Feb 11, 2025

An ordinary story elevated by the acting talents of Moore and Swinton.

| Original Score: 6/10 | Feb 6, 2025

Failing to make a lasting, thought-provoking impression, The Room Next Door still has power, but not as much as it should. Blame the restrained aesthetics, light approach, and occasional conversational inelasticity.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 2, 2025

In Spain, despite religious opposition, assisted suicide is accepted while - in the U.S. - the right to die is controversial. Euthanasia is legal in only 10 states & Washington, D.C. so Pedro Almodovar's bittersweet film is visually sumptuous & spectral.

| Original Score: 6/10 | Feb 2, 2025

This is not a film for everyone, but it shows that dying does not always have to be dark and that filmmakers like Almodovar can even find positivity and hope in sadness.

| Original Score: 6/10 | Jan 24, 2025

There have been extraordinary films in recent years about end-of-life issues....Almodóvar’s somewhat mannered take might not rank with the very best, but blessed with excellent performances...it’s a worthwhile addition to those on this difficult subject.

| Original Score: B | Jan 23, 2025

This philosophically and emotionally rich film summons feelings and thoughts that occur late at night or under trying circumstances; Why? For what? To what end? It beautifully asks and answers those questions and more.

| Jan 23, 2025

The serious topic bypasses those thriving on fast-paced visuals, but—aided by sensitive work from his fabulous stars—Almodóvar reaches that universal observation about the basics of life.

Full Review | Jan 22, 2025

The Room Next Door is a gorgeously constructed dialogue about a life well-lived, as well as being a poetic ode to life after death.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Jan 21, 2025

With two powerhouse performances and a reminder that the ever-looming shadow of death is our most potent mandate to embrace life, The Room Next Door is a stirring triumph.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 20, 2025

In spite of their capable performances, the film’s most notable shortcoming is that it lacks the passion that exudes from Almodóvar’s previous pictures.

| Jan 20, 2025

There’s drama and sadness in the subject matter, of course, but that’s not a free pass to manipulate and bore. At worst, that’s offensive; at best, it’s precious time poorly spent.

| Original Score: C- | Jan 19, 2025

[The Room Next Door] has all the cinematic devices of a Pedro Almodóvar gem, but they have all been neutralized by the weaknesses of the script and the stale, calculated quality of using English as the main language.[Full review in Spanish]

| Jan 18, 2025

There is much to ponder during Spanish auteur Pedro Almodovar's first English language film, a very human examination of death and how to manage it during the most trying days of terminal illness.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 18, 2025

Pedro Almodóvar teams Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore for a rich slice of classic Hollywood melodrama in 'The Room Next Door.'

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 17, 2025