32. Backrooms and liminal spaces

Yeah, unusual is, is right.

I felt that as well.

For listeners, what we're gonna do is give a bit of a description about, uh, what Backrooms is and what it's about, and we're gonna try to do that in a way without any spoilers.

But to-- I guess we need to be honest in catching, uh, an atmosphere [laughs] kinda correctly for potential viewers of the film.

Talk a little bit about, uh, what it's about, who's in it, maybe talk a little bit about whether we would recommend this film to other people.

Deep dive a bit on Alex's background because there's, you know, there's, uh, some nice overlaps here with your expertise, and, um, that, that informs your take on this film no doubt.

And just saying up front as well, Alex and I haven't actually had a discussion about this film yet, so we're kinda working this out together as we go.

And then, uh, really not kinda structured after that, just things that stood out for us within the film.

But that will be a spoilers part, where if you haven't seen the film and you intend to see the film, you should probably stop listening, check that out, and come back.

I did promise you we're friends and I, and I'd be kind and this is a nice experience, but I'm so tempted to just go, "You try to describe the film first without spoilers." [laughs]

[chuckles] Well, I think this, um, you know, this kind of concept of liminal space is my understanding is it comes from, like, a social media trend a few years back.

Or it's probably been closer to, uh, maybe 10 years ago or so, that this idea of a, a liminal space, um, being captured, which is not n- neither here nor there.

Like, kind of rooms that, you know, stretch on without clear delineations or objects that seem familiar but are not quite where they're supposed to be or there's something a bit off about them.

And I think that's what really interested me about this concept, that it's a bit dreamlike and it has that psychological or cognitive element to it.

So, and I'm not quite sure how this, uh, you know, got pitched as a film, but I think, um, you know, you might know a bit more about that, the, the directors and casting around it.

But, uh, um, the fact that it was made into, like, a proper, you know, Hollywood-level movie I think is quite interesting in the first place, 'cause it is quite a niche sort of concept of dealing with this idea of liminal spaces or, or backrooms that you might find.

Keeping it spoiler-free, I don't, I don't wanna go too much into the story or, or script, but, um, yeah, I don't know if you wanted to say more, more about that.

It might also be useful to mention that there is a pretty small cast.

A bit of the feature of the film is one of the characters seeking psychological support for, you know, just, um, mental health relationship stuff in their life.