The Oak Room is a movie that purports to be seen as a dark and twisty backwoods noir but takes so much time getting to where it actually wants to go that by the time the story winds itself up, we’ve lost interest.
The Oak Room
✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Canada · 2020
1h 29m
Director Cody Calahan
Starring RJ Mitte, Peter Outerbridge, Ari Millen, Nicholas Campbell
Genre Horror, Mystery, Thriller
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During a raging snowstorm, a drifter returns home to the blue-collar bar in the remote Canadian town where he was born. When he offers to settle an old debt with a grizzled bartender by telling him a story, the night's events quickly spin into a dark tale of mistaken identities, double-crosses, and shocking violence.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) by Brad Wheeler
A lot of things are said; a lot is not. It was a dark and stormy night. An audience walks into a film – and stays for the whole 90 minutes, because it is worth it.
RogerEbert.com by Christy Lemire
Back and forth The Oak Room goes, without ever building the tension it ostensibly seeks. Instead, it meanders from tale to tale, and the writing isn’t sharp or specific enough to sustain this kind of complex framework.
The Film Stage by Jared Mobarak
The Oak Room is playing games with us as well.
This story about stories is best absorbed if you’re not in a hurry. The Oak Room is not long (88 minutes), but the words demand attention.
This sharply crafted piece talks the talk and finally threatens to walk the walk.
This cut-and-paste cliche collection could have been written by a machine.
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