The Oak Room (Fantasia Fest)
**Seen for the 2020 Fantasia International Film Festival**
A thriller about storytelling with purpose is how I would simply describe Cody Calahan’s “The Oak Room.” Its characters use storytelling to convey a particular message to the character they are telling it to, although we are not entirely sure, sometimes, what that message is until the very end. I was intrigued from start to finish, as one person’s story becomes a death sentence for another person, even when they don’t share a scene together. It’s a very smart piece of filmmaking.
We begin in a small town bar. There’s a massive downfall of snow outside. A drifter (R.J. Mitte) comes in to get out of the cold, having to convince the bartender (Peter Outerbridge) to let him stay for a bit. It’s not long into the conversation that it is obvious the drifter, Steve, is familiar to the bartender, Paul. In a way to pay him back for letting him come in, Steve tells Paul a story. It’s about one night, not too long ago, at The Oak Room bar a few weeks ago. A drifter comes in from the cold. He convinces the bartender to let him stay, and tells him a story. Steve starts from the second half of the story, however; there’s a reason for that, and why Paul needs to hear the first part of the story. That’s the whole point of why Steve came in on this night.
We’ve seen this narrative device before, and believe me, I was worried that this wasn’t going to work. But there’s more to this iteration by Calahan and his writer, Peter Genoway, than we expect. Why would we be interested in a story that goes into the telling of another story? Because, as I mentioned earlier, there is purpose to the stories being told. Steve’s story has unexpected meaning to Paul; Paul has a story of meaning for Steve, and, Calahan has a way of using cinematic language- especially music- to maintain tension and dramatic weight, even if the film feels like it might be getting caught in a convolution of storytelling twists for the sake of being clever. I can understand why others might disagree, but I found it a strong example of boiling down narrative tropes into something capable of springing surprises on us at various turns.
