The Forbidden Room review: You won't be able to take your eyes off this abstract film

Watching The Forbidden Room at the Mumbai Film Festival will always remain a special memory for as long as I live. The imagery in the film is delirious combo of persistent flickering, swerving, exploding and dissolving. Thirty minutes into the film, I procured a severe headache, ran out of the hall and barfed a couple of times. Under any other circumstances I would have stayed as far away from such a theatrical ‘experience’, but not with Guy Maddin’s latest film. This time I wiped my face, ran straight back to the hall and continued watching the film as it continued to pound me with a barrage of quivering strobe lighting powerful enough to cause epileptic attacks. But I still somehow enjoyed this maddening experience. This is a rare kind of a film that is absolutely unwatchable but you can’t take your eyes off it. Director Maddin has always been known for his weird filmmaking (The Saddest Music in the World, My Winnipeg) and with The Forbidden Room he’s created something special. This is the Godfather of Acid Trip films, a very high benchmark in gonzo batguano insane abstract cinema. Very little in the film makes sense but it doesn’t even matter because the stuff playing on the screen is crazy enough to keep your jaw wide open. [caption id=“attachment_2493590” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] A still from the film. Image from Youtube.[/caption] It’s impossible to describe the plot of The Forbidden Room after just once viewing. In fact any human who can decipher what transpires in the film after watching it once deserves a beer or two. Multiple plot threads intertwine in one hazy daze – one story follows a submarine crew whose captain is missing and they’re tasked with stopping a strange explosive substance called ‘blast jelly’ from melting. Elsewhere a lumberjack searching for a woman in a cave full of men dressed as wolves is captured and forced to undergo bizarre tests. Somewhere else a man who is obsessed with women’s bottoms is working with a brain surgeon to kill his sickness. The latter is introduced in a laugh out hilarious music video called ‘The Final Derriere’ where the doctor continually slices open the man’s head and picks out pieces of his brain to cure him. Needless to say, this film isn’t for the faint hearted. But there’s something far more in The Forbidden Room than just cheap thrills. If your eyes and stomach are strong enough to withstand the film you can dissect some of the existentialist themes at play. The real deal, however, is that this film is a throwback to many films of a bygone era, particularly Jodorwsky’s work. This is reinforced by the fact that the film originally began as museum project of reimagining lost films by Maddin and his former student Evan Johnson who co-directed this film. The over the top demeanor of everyone in the film, the ridiculous color scheme, the cinematography that renders the film a feel of an old reel being played after decades – it’s all a love letter to films that reinvented the wheel before the digital age. You can watch The Forbidden Room as part of a drinking game, or as a challenge to piece together an atrociously difficult puzzle, or after a couple of joints, or even with your family on a quiet little Sunday afternoon. No matter which way you see it, you can’t take your eyes away from the screen. The imagery is powerful enough to permanently imprint itself on your brains. Make sure you carry some Dramamine if you’re prone to motion sickness though. And if you want the full experience, pop in Dramamine regardless. Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited is a venture of Reliance Industries, which owns Network18 (of which Firstpost is a part)