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THE WAITING ROOM (Canada 2015) **
Directed by Igro Drljaca

Review by Gilbert Seah

THE WAITING ROOM shot in Toronto in English, Bosnian and Croatian has garnered praise in its limited run in film festivals which could mean one thing – this is the kind of quirky Canadian feature that is not bad but no one wants to see.

The central character is a middle-age struggling actor, Jasmin (Jasmin Geljo) who has immigrated to Toronto from Bosnia. He lives with his second wife and young son but longs to move back to Bosnia where his father, who he talks to frequently on the computer is. He has various acting parts, one of which is in drag (the reason is up to the audience to figure) and another one sitting in a car driving around with the background of Bosnia. Jasmin finds the pieces of his former and present life meshing uncomfortably. When he is cast for a role set amidst the very Bosnian-Herzegovinian civil war he escaped decades earlier, the line between fiction and reality become blurred. Director Drljaca blurs the lines of fiction and re-creation, the tragic and the absurd in the film.

The cast of Canadian unknowns perform relatively well, lead actor Geljo included. Production values are also sound.

Director Drljaca’s (KRIVINA) over serious film looks sincere but the film’s narrative goes nowhere and the film jumps all over the place. The only humour, understated obviously, comes right at the end of the film, which fortunately is quite the delight! The question is whether one would like to sit through the entire film for the ending.

The film premiered at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival is now getting a commercial release.

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