Red Rooms (#595)

For the second weekend in a row, Hollywood released a lot of films so I was forced to choose the lesser evil among the group.  When I got to the theater, I made up my mind.  It was a rainy Saturday, the lobby was jammed, and I assumed most were going to see Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, which appeared to be shown in one of the 16 theaters every 15 minutes.  I opted for the least likely to be crowded—a French language film entitled RED ROOMS.  I was shocked when I saw that virtually every seat was taken.  I was pleasantly surprised despite the subject matter—the trial of s man accused of sexually abusing, mutilating and then killing three young girls.  Much of the action takes place in a Montreal courtroom where two young women are spectators.  They begin talking to one another and somehow they bond despite their very different lifestyles.  One is a fashion model, living in a luxurious apartment; the other, a visitor to the city, who is sleeping on the streets or in homeless shelters.  The homeless one, soon taken in by the other, is outspoken, professing the innocence of the accused man.  Why the model is there is unclear, but she is clearly involved in the dark web, specifically the darkest sites on the dark web known as red rooms.  While I was obviously in the dark about a lot of the film, I liked it and the best part was that toward the end of the film, my onetime fluent French came back a bit and I found I didn't need the subtitles.  Critics gave it a 96% thumbs up, and there were no audience ratings.  I have observed as an ardent movie-goer that at the concession counters, which also sell tickets, virtually everyone but me spends more time—and more money—choosing what they want to eat as opposed to choosing a movie.