One Bedroom is a 2018 comedy drama about an African American 30-something couple in a gentrifying Brooklyn neighborhood who spend their final afternoon together.
What is it about the great American romance and its slow burn demise that is always so appealing? Maybe its the familiarity, the way we sort of project our own lives on these characters, feeling like, yeah, I know what they’re thinking. That’s what I like most about writer/director Darien Sills-Evans‘ latest little indie gem, One Bedroom, an often very funny and more so, very moving romance on the ropes that is built on strong performances and surprising authenticity.
In Brooklyn, thirty-somethings Nate (Sills-Evans) and Melissa (Devin Nelson) are at the end of a five-year relationship, he a DJ and she a sixth-grade teacher. They are breaking up, their small apartment littered with moving boxes as she prepares to head out on her own, convinced he cheated on her. As the day progresses, the two talk and argue, reflect and recount what they’ve done and how they feel, truths revealed and secrets surfaced. But is it enough to save what they’ve built, or are the two destined to say goodbye forever?
Told in early flashback as Nate goes to work at his regular job as a barber, he regals his story with the crew, we witnessing the turmoil like a stage play as the two spin like frayed threads from the spool. A story like this is really about balance, keeping the laughs on point and the drama meaningful, though here the comedy is really less about gags and much more about the humor of being human. For instance, the two begin their breakup by having sex and then it just gets worse from there as bitterness over perceived acts of betrayal split and then bind and split them again in seemingly unending circles.
Sills-Evans wears a lot of hats here and while his direction is strong, keeping the tight sets close and personal, its his writing that make its more than it should be. His dialogue is potent, earning some chuckles along the way but eviscerating when it comes to the drama, not afraid to make these people scarred by flaws but also worthy enough to recognize them. The conflicts are earned and the emotions raw. While some of the barbershop stuff is a bit obvious, it’s in Nate’s apartment where this film truly clicks. This is heavily, conversationally-driven, yet both Sills-Evans and Nelson carry it effortlessly, his deep, baritone voice filling the room while her demure and empowered presence cuts right through it. These are people we care about.
Stripped of the usual flagpoles of a traditional romcom-ish movie, One Bedroom has a few sturdy surprises, and while it lacks the typical pop song mentality of others in the genre with a clear and predictable trajectory, it is nonetheless a very satisfying little film, energized by two terrific performances and a sentimental yet brutally honest heart. This is one to watch.
One Bedroom is still in the festival circuit with a release day pending.