Institute History
Description
We all have something in common with Julia Barker. She's overworked, doesn't spend enough time with her family, and the sound of doomsday on the news follows her everywhere. Julia lives in Houston, is married with two children, and barely makes ends meet by working on the floor of Paradise Bingo Hall. She has begun having visions of a room—stark, vacuous, and industrial. After waking up from a minor car accident on a road that parallels the flight pattern to George Bush Airport, Julia follows her vision and flees on an airplane to New York City. Once there she continues to search for the room, which insinuates itself more and more forcefully into her consciousness.
Director Kyle Henry cross-pollinates domestic melodrama and psychological thriller in this stunning first feature. Cyndi Williams brilliantly inhabits Julia, transforming her from an exhausted woman to one metaphysically reawakened and connected with herself. Julia's character breaks convention by tracing a phoenix's flight without falling into the ashes of predictable tragedy. Mesmerizing imagery and sound design capture the terror of technological and wartime media saturation and translate it into a menace familiar to us all.