Opinion Piece - The Room and Vertigo Are The Same Film
After four and a half years, I've made it to 250 posts on this blog which, when you think about the amount of writing that consists of, blows my mind a little bit. Anyway, I wanted to do two reviews next week that I couldn't push back any more than I already have so as my big 250th special, we've got a little post I've been incubating for a while because seriously, The Room and Vertigo get more and more similar every time I see them. Anyway, if you've stuck with me for a month, a year or even since I started this hot mess of a blog, thank you. This one is for you.
Vertigo. The Room. Whenever you have conversations about the greatest film of all time or the worst film of all time, respectively these are the two that will always come up. In many ways, they're as complete opposite ends of the spectrum as you can get. With that said however, I've been developing a theory over the last year or so and I was going to give it a massive build up but it's in the title so let's not waste too much time: I think Vertigo and The Room are basically the same film. I apologise to close friends, specifically those I've seen The Room with, because I'm often drunk during those viewings and will start screaming about another connection I've spotted that draws this web of intrigue closer and closer together. By this point, you probably already think I'm talking horseshit but genuinely, I'll get to it. I just want you to have that graph in your head of political alignment, the one that looks like a horseshoe, in your head as you read this, in that the better a film is and the worse a film is, the closer the two are. So let's dive into two of my favourite films.
The connection I think is most obvious and that most people will probably pick up on is the setting. Both of these films are set in San Francisco and in numerous scenes they like to dwell on it. With Vertigo, it's almost its own character and if you don't want to visit San Francisco afterwards, you're crazy. Whether you're below the Golden Gate Bridge or dashing across the rooftops of the city, you see the city and its numerous different angles. Hell, one of the most famous sequences is Scottie just driving around the streets of San Fran and that sells it just as well. Moving over to The Room, fans of that will also know the infamous San Francisco setting but only because there's so many unnecessary establishing shots of parks or trolley carts If you play any drinking games based on the film, you'll also remember angrily the Golden Gate tracking shots which you have to drink through that scream HEY, WE FILMED THESE BITS IN SAN FRANCISCO. Again, apologising to people who I watch The Room with but there's one scene where Tommy Wiseau walks past a building called the Palace of Fine Arts and for years I've thought that same place is also used in Vertigo, which I loudly announce to my fellow viewers. Recently I researched it and found out that it is indeed in both films but I can't promise I'll stop screaming at it whenever I see it.
One other kind of serious connection is that both films are helmed by genuine, honest to God auteurs. Vertigo is self explanatory, it's a Hitchcock film and even if you haven't seen a single Hitchcock film (and you really should) you know what you're in for. It becomes a little more blurry with Tommy Wiseau seeing as he's only made the one film, but you'd struggle to say that the style of The Room isn't iconic. Stilted dialogue, clumsy mise-en-scene and more establishing shots than five of your average films combined create this vibe that is so unlike any other film out there. On that note, both films also have plots that don't make a huge deal of sense, with Vertigo opening on a huge plot hole of how Scottie survives his near death experience and The Room having... Well, I'll put it this way, don't get worried when Lisa's mum mentions having breast cancer because you won't hear about it again. Finally, there are these deeply melodramatic love stories at the heart of both films. The Room has a more traditional one with it being a man, his wife and his best friend in a messy, very convoluted love triangle with far too many sex scenes to justify the lust. Hitchcock being Hitchcock, Vertigo is a little more unconventional with Scottie falling for Madeline and Judy but not realising what a thin line there is between the two women. With both films, the plots seem to be there to add real drama but they add a level of artificiality that actually makes each film a more enjoyable experience.
I feel like a lot of this post has been the crazed ramblings of a mad man but in a way, that's perfect. Both of these films are bizarre, examples of cinematic form that push the limits in the very best and very worst ways, both of which have changed the way I think about and appreciate film. Going back to the political graph, by being so great and so bad, Vertigo and The Room are the two films I have seen more than any other. Not just that, both are films whose initial release I was not around for (either through not being born or being four) yet I have sought out in cinemas and had near transcendent experiences because of that. One day, I'll watch them back to back as a double bill and I think at that point, I'll have reached cinematic Nirvana but until them, I will not shut up about how these two films are almost identical.
Vertigo. The Room. Whenever you have conversations about the greatest film of all time or the worst film of all time, respectively these are the two that will always come up. In many ways, they're as complete opposite ends of the spectrum as you can get. With that said however, I've been developing a theory over the last year or so and I was going to give it a massive build up but it's in the title so let's not waste too much time: I think Vertigo and The Room are basically the same film. I apologise to close friends, specifically those I've seen The Room with, because I'm often drunk during those viewings and will start screaming about another connection I've spotted that draws this web of intrigue closer and closer together. By this point, you probably already think I'm talking horseshit but genuinely, I'll get to it. I just want you to have that graph in your head of political alignment, the one that looks like a horseshoe, in your head as you read this, in that the better a film is and the worse a film is, the closer the two are. So let's dive into two of my favourite films.
The connection I think is most obvious and that most people will probably pick up on is the setting. Both of these films are set in San Francisco and in numerous scenes they like to dwell on it. With Vertigo, it's almost its own character and if you don't want to visit San Francisco afterwards, you're crazy. Whether you're below the Golden Gate Bridge or dashing across the rooftops of the city, you see the city and its numerous different angles. Hell, one of the most famous sequences is Scottie just driving around the streets of San Fran and that sells it just as well. Moving over to The Room, fans of that will also know the infamous San Francisco setting but only because there's so many unnecessary establishing shots of parks or trolley carts If you play any drinking games based on the film, you'll also remember angrily the Golden Gate tracking shots which you have to drink through that scream HEY, WE FILMED THESE BITS IN SAN FRANCISCO. Again, apologising to people who I watch The Room with but there's one scene where Tommy Wiseau walks past a building called the Palace of Fine Arts and for years I've thought that same place is also used in Vertigo, which I loudly announce to my fellow viewers. Recently I researched it and found out that it is indeed in both films but I can't promise I'll stop screaming at it whenever I see it.
One other kind of serious connection is that both films are helmed by genuine, honest to God auteurs. Vertigo is self explanatory, it's a Hitchcock film and even if you haven't seen a single Hitchcock film (and you really should) you know what you're in for. It becomes a little more blurry with Tommy Wiseau seeing as he's only made the one film, but you'd struggle to say that the style of The Room isn't iconic. Stilted dialogue, clumsy mise-en-scene and more establishing shots than five of your average films combined create this vibe that is so unlike any other film out there. On that note, both films also have plots that don't make a huge deal of sense, with Vertigo opening on a huge plot hole of how Scottie survives his near death experience and The Room having... Well, I'll put it this way, don't get worried when Lisa's mum mentions having breast cancer because you won't hear about it again. Finally, there are these deeply melodramatic love stories at the heart of both films. The Room has a more traditional one with it being a man, his wife and his best friend in a messy, very convoluted love triangle with far too many sex scenes to justify the lust. Hitchcock being Hitchcock, Vertigo is a little more unconventional with Scottie falling for Madeline and Judy but not realising what a thin line there is between the two women. With both films, the plots seem to be there to add real drama but they add a level of artificiality that actually makes each film a more enjoyable experience.
I feel like a lot of this post has been the crazed ramblings of a mad man but in a way, that's perfect. Both of these films are bizarre, examples of cinematic form that push the limits in the very best and very worst ways, both of which have changed the way I think about and appreciate film. Going back to the political graph, by being so great and so bad, Vertigo and The Room are the two films I have seen more than any other. Not just that, both are films whose initial release I was not around for (either through not being born or being four) yet I have sought out in cinemas and had near transcendent experiences because of that. One day, I'll watch them back to back as a double bill and I think at that point, I'll have reached cinematic Nirvana but until them, I will not shut up about how these two films are almost identical.
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