2022’s The Immaculate Room poses a gauntlet for its main characters Kate (Kate Bosworth) and Mikey (Emile Hirsch): If they spend 50 days in an empty room, they will be awarded $5 million. Sounds easy, right?
Well…not really, as the film explores. Any rational viewer of this will realize that Kate and Mikey have signed up for excruciating psychological torture, not a month-and-a-half-long getaway. It doesn’t help that the two are doing this to mend a rocky relationship. The room switches its lighting to simulate morning, afternoon, and night. They are offered food (literally labeled FOOD) that is bland and tasteless. The film becomes somewhat of an indictment of our modern age of distraction. Kate and Mikey have nothing to occupy their time.
We are given glimpses into Kate and Mikey: Kate is a modest, modern woman who meditates and is willing to do whatever it takes for the prize money. Mikey is seen as a spoiled, artistic hipster type, and much can be inferred about his openness with his vegan lifestyle. The ante is soon upped, as the two are allowed “gifts” that shave off the initial prize money. A crayon appears. Then a gun.
The Immaculate Room unfortunately is just as empty as its setting. There isn’t enough tension built up for viewers to care if anyone wins the money, and Hirsch and Bosworth’s performances are overshadowed by the film’s conceit. The film, however, would work well for those studying ethics, philosophy, and minimalist art design.