IN THE ROOM WHERE HE WAITS

Australia, 2024, 88 minutes, Colour.

Daniel Monks, Susie Porter, Annabel Marshall-Roth, Anthony Brendan Wong, Chris Bartholomew.

Directed by Timothy Despina Marshall.

An evocative title, the audience immediately wondering who “he” is. And why he is waiting in a room. An invitation to join him?

This is a small-budget film, filmed during the Covid years in Brisbane, the action can find, in fact, to 2 rooms and a hotel corridor, more than a touch of the eerie, listen to the corridor in The Shining. There are windows, glimpses of the city, few pedestrians, few cars, a train passing by. However, there is no explicit reference to Covid, simply the situation for the central character, Tobin, in lockdown, locked in and locked into his character, a kind of prison experience, locked up.

Tobin is an actor, returning from the US, separated from his partner, contact with his mother, participating in his hotel room by his with rehearsals for Tennessee Williams The Glass Menagerie, text from one of his fellow-actors. That is the setting of the scene.

However, what is important is the atmosphere, Tobin in lockdown, confined, the mental pressures, mysterious objects appearing, underwear, red shirt, cufflinks, and disappearing, contact with the the hotel receptionist by phone, a guard patrolling the corridor and keeping him in. Noises in the night, since it strange presences. He does ask to be transferred to another room – eventually moving more strange experiences, an old naked man seen sitting in the chair… What is happening to him?

That is the general focus of the screenplay. However, there are most important subtexts which make this film quite different from others.

Firstly, the actor portraying Tobin, Daniel Monks, is a disabled actor, a campaigner for the disabled actors, and his character, Tobin, with tensions in his arm and leg, able to use them freely, limping.

Secondly, there is a gay subtext, with Daniel monks and with the director, and the significance of portraying gay characters, Tobin, his mother liking his partner from whom he is now separated, his emotional needs, physical needs, psychological needs, dating apps…

Thirdly, there is a subtext of Tennessee Williams The Class Menagerie, and the parallels between Tobin’s mother and the mother in the play, the character of the son, Tom, and the character of the Gentleman Caller and Tobin seeking a caller.

The film is well-made, keeps the attention, and the tension, involving the audience keeping them waiting with Tobin in the room.

1. The title and its atmosphere? The focus on the room, the question of who is “he”? Why he is waiting? Inviting the audience to meet the “he” and join in the waiting?
2. ^{The production filmed during Covid lockdown, Brisbane, vistas outside the window, city, the train passing, few people, few cars? In two rooms and the corridor – and the hotel corridor reminiscent of The Shining? Touches of the sinister?}
3. ^{The performance by Daniel Monks, Tobin in the US and returning, the goodbye to his partner, cutting contact with his partner? The rehearsals for The Glass Menagerie, his role as Tom? The sequences of rehearsal on Zoom? Phone calls with his mother, relationship, love, tensions, her taking superior attitudes, his being upset with her? Memories of his father, alcohol, his mother’s attitude? Saying that he would be like his father? The contact with Sienna, her texts, the discussions with the producers of the play? His being late, unreliable, his being fired?}
4. ^{The experience of lockdown, confined to the hotel room, the view from the window, meals at his store, glimpses of the guard, contact with reception? The isolation and its effect?}
5. ^{The eerie happenings and their effect on Tobin, the card jumping out of its hold, the lights going out, the cufflinks at the door, the red shirt, briefs, his putting them outside, the phone calls from reception about them, the reappearing, in the bath, his eventually wearing them?}
6. ^{The sense of presence in the room, the knocking, the dark, his searching? The reaction of the guard, ordering him back in the room?}
7. ^{His request to move to another room, the reasons, the effect on his mind, on his sleep, waking, searching the room, sense of presence?}
8. ^{The new room, vision of the man sitting naked in the chair, appearing, disappearing? The effect on Tobin’s mind? Moving out of the room, searching the corridor?}
9. ^{The cumulative effect, the final phone call with his mother, being fired from the play, wearing the shirt and cufflinks and underwear, his final isolation – a sense of doom or a sense of hope?}
10. ^{The subtext of the screenplay, Daniel Monks as disabled, Tobin as disabled, his arm and legs, his movements and walking, showering, in bed, audience response to Tobin as a character, and to his disability?}
11. ^{The subtext of the screenplay, Tobin as a gay man, out, not closeted, his mother’s acceptance, his relationship with his partner, his mother’s approval, the separation and its effect, his need for some kind of companionship, sexual urges, the masturbation, online, the dating apps, the contacts?}
12. ^{The subtext of the screenplay, Tennessee Williams and The Glass Menagerie, the dominant mother, Tobin as Tom, his seeking a gay gentleman caller?}
13. ^{The overall effect of the film, technical qualities, small-budget and running time, performance? And the theme of someone alone, locked down, locked in, feeling of being locked up, prison parallel? Coping and not coping? Mental consequences?}