Written by: Pascal Plante
Starring: Juliette Gariépy, Laurie Babin, Elisabeth Locas, Maxwell McCabe-Lokos, Natalie Tannous
Rating: [4/5]
While very much existing in terrifying secrecy, the knowledge of the dark web has never been more prevalent with the acknowledgement of how horrendous the content on there could be. A collection of sick individuals who cannot find entertainment or fulfillment from anything legal and therefore find horrific ways to fill their desires. While Red Rooms has the dark web serve as a central element to its narrative, the way it weaves into a tragic court case along with its coverage helps this film establish itself as such a riveting viewing experience.
With the court case of a man accused of broadcasting his gruesome murders of three girls ongoing, model and online poker player Kelly-Anne (Juliette Gariépy) makes it a point to attend. While attending the case she meets Clémentine (Laurie Babin), an ardent defender of the defendant who claims he has been framed. While Kelly-Anne remains cagey on her thoughts, as the case progresses the more she gets enthralled by it.
Nothing about Red Rooms seeks to provide comfort. Not from the subject matter involved nor the character motivations as much of it remains shrouded as we progress through the plot. As weird as it may be to say, the strangeness and unpredictable behavior of Kelly-Anne left me more on edge than anything else this film had to offer because she proved difficult to read. We have characters like Clémentine, who make their positions on the matter very clear. Clémentine believes this injustice towards the defendant exists even though she does not know this man at all. She exhibits one of those rabid fans that appear in high-profile cases that make their entire personality to follow the case. It gives them a sense of importance and their idea of being on the right side of history. Individuals like Clémentine are nothing new but Kelly-Anne remains something else altogether. A fascinating person and getting to the core of what she gets out of this remains the biggest mystery of the film.
When Clémentine endlessly shares her opinion Kelly-Anne does not offer anything, which does not make sense because she even camps out at the courthouse to ensure she fits into the limited seats available to the general public for viewing the trial in the courtroom. Various questions can seep into the minds of the viewers as to what she gets out of this, which makes Pascal Plante’s direction of this film all the more fascinating. Our lead character has an intensity to everything in life from the type of modeling she does to her enjoyment of aggressively playing racquetball but she remains an impenetrable wall without losing anything of what makes her so captivating.
Dealing with such a sensitive topic leaves Red Rooms on such precarious ground where it needs to proceed with some level of caution in how it deals with its material. Not only in how it displays the dark web but also the reality of the film hangs plenty of importance on the footage of young girls getting dismembered and brutally killed on tape. This shoe remained on the precipice of dropping at any time and this film essentially makes every right decision in the way it handles it all. It displays restraint when necessary but remains unafraid to shock the audience with some of the narrative decisions made. Lesser filmmakers would have leaned into the naturally exploitative elements of this narrative but Plante does a splendid job of balancing it all and delivering something incredibly riveting.
In addition to the two characters we follow as the trial progresses, this film does a tremendous job delineating between what it means to experience this as an observer and those directly involved like the family members. While Clémentine finds herself in this as some valiant quest when it has no impact on her life, we have the family members of the murdered children trying to balance their grief with their quest for justice. Their pain is on broadcast, which gets lost in the shuffle when the media make it a frenzy and individuals like Kelly-Anne and Clémentine get some level of enjoyment in their involvement in a situation that does not concern them. The real-world examples of this are too obvious to point out but it remains one of the more cogent points of the film.
Biting, enthralling, and disturbing in equal measure, Red Rooms unfortunately remains a story far too close to reality in the way it breaks down how a high-profile case gets disseminated and seen as a product when it involves real people. If it bleeds it leads and cases like this one brings in the frenzy and parasitic individuals wanting to watch the wreckage for their own perverse reasons. This feature does an excellent job distilling the actions of its characters, their tolerance for the disconcerting material as well as taking turns that will keep you guessing.
Films with Josh 
