Room to Let

Malaysia is a land without many representatives at international film festivals. Looking at the talent displayed by James Lee in Room to Let, things may be about to change. With its precise framing, its ability to exploit minimal means to depict youthful alienation, loneliness and the unmentionable aspects of big-city life, the film is reminiscent of the work of Tsai Ming-liang -who was also born in Malaysia. Lee’s characters, who are more fluent and talkative than those of Tsai, seem captivated in Room to Let by an invisible lightness: one of the characters is a ghost and the bizarre location – an old villa in the midst of the hyper-modern new buildings of Kuala Lumpur -looks like a gate to another world. When the film maker found this location, he immediately decided to make a film there. In reality the house is occupied by people who sometimes look suspiciously like the characters in Room to Let, and two of them even play in the film (for instance in the role of landlord). When he arrives in Kuala Lumpur, Berg meets the CD and DVD salesman Andrew, who can’t help him find the film he is looking for, but can offer him a bed. The inhabitants of his old house in the middle of the bustling city are young people who largely fill their time doing nothing. Berg slowly unravels the strange mysteries of this house and its inhabitants, including the ghost, a long-lost artist and a man who offers his wife instead of rent.