Backrooms
My habit is I see and feel and think about art and write words down and imagine I’ll make those words a lengthy piece dedicated to that art sometime soon. Years pass.
I am going to keep doing that, but I also wish to take on the added habit of going public with some of those words sooner. Have y’all seen Backrooms?
I have a lot to say about Backrooms. Recalling and discussing and dreaming about it had me waking up one morning with a formulation I will set down here. I don’t mean to suggest the makers will agree with me or that this is the film’s message or theme, but this is nevertheless an insight that’s come to me via the film. Here it is:
We are at the mercy of other people’s imaginations. Other people are at the mercy of our imaginations. We are at the mercy of one another’s imaginations.
I really enjoyed BACKROOMS. Yes, we're at the mercy of the imagination of others. The closing monologue from Mark Duplass suggests that something is misremembering us and whatever it is, it's becoming more active... perhaps waking up. That's full-bore cosmic horror in my book!
I loved this movie immensely until the last two minutes. I HATED the ending of it. It actually ruined a lot of the film for me. I think you're spot on about the imagination angle.