Roman (2006)

Director:

Angela Bettis

Writer:

Lucky McKee (writer)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Sometimes Death Is Not So Natural

Plot:

A lonely young man's obsession with his neighbor gets the best of him, resulting in a murder, a cover-up ... and a potential new romance?

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Factory | Apartment | Desperation | Loneliness

Awards:

1 win

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Lucky McKee	...	Roman
Nectar Rose	...	Eva / Dream Girl
Kristen Bell	...	The Girl / Isis
Ben Boyer	...	Russ
Mike McKee	...	Leroy Wolf
Jesse Hlubik	...	Jesse
Chris Sivertson	...	Lanky Worker
Ernie Banks	...	Cyrus
Adam Gierasch	...	Boyd
Eddie Steeples	...	Detective
Thomas Beaumont	...	The Waiter
Vanessa Menendez	...	Hedda Gabler
Lotus Harmony	...	Dream Girl
Pancho Alvarez	...	Lunch Room Worker
Steve Copeland	...	Lunch Room Worker

Also Known As:

May 2: The Story of Roman (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:Not Rated

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Auteur Entertainment

Trivia:

The full film was shot with a digital video camera. The interviews were also filmed with the same camera.

Quotes:

Isis, the Girl: My mother would like this face.
Roman: She got a number?

Movie Connections:

References Harvey (1950)

Beautiful, Sad, Funny, Beautiful

Jeez...apparently, Lucky McKee can do no wrong. Like an album by an indie artist buried under a pile of Top 40 junk, it is often hard to remember that the horror genre DOES have an existence outside of Rob Zombie, Eli Roth, and the "Saw" franchise. But is "Roman" really a horror film? McKee himself has found the tag questionable, as his films are more about relationships than anything else. "Roman," directed by actress Angela Bettis, is a gender reversal on McKee's breakout debut, "May" (in which Bettis starred), but blossoms into yet another singularly unique entity. Roman (McKee, who also scripted) is a remote, shy welder who leads a lonely existence; his daily excitement comes from sitting in front of his apartment window as an anonymous, beautiful girl (Kristen Bell) walks by; when the duo finally hook up, it meets an unexpected end. While McKee's hangdog expression can be overdone at times, he nails the nuances of a tormented, lovelorn guy, which becomes even more complex when Eva (the beautiful Nectar Rose), a foliage-wearing artist, enters his life. The beauty of watching "Roman" unravel is this awareness of relationship mechanics--seldom does character motivation feel contrived, nor does it come off with a sanitized "Hollywood" feel (the use of DV further helps this). As with "May," McKee finds ways to make potential shock-value scenes play with a tenderness (or humor) that is even more effective. And maybe as a titular nod to Polanski, the film bears a similarity to that director's tales of paranoid and/or sexually confused apartment-dwellers trying to sustain a day-to-day existence without (literally) killing someone. "Roman" is a wonderful film, sure to be on my "Best of 2007" list (even though it came out last year).