TIFF 2024 Review: Living Together

A study of what people look for when searching for a roommate by witnessing the interview process spread across 15 Montreal apartments advertising rooms for rent.

Individuals from all walks of life and circumstances are looking for roommates or an apartment to rent.  A stationary camera captures the interviews which follow a varied criteria but in essence, the aim is the same thing which is find to someone that they can live with and enjoy their company.   Montages of the various apartment rooms that are empty of occupants but accompanied by a piano score that resonates with some discord break up the talking heads.

Check out all of our TIFF coverageNo doubt the concept is novel given the rising cost of finding a place to live and how the dominance of social media has impacted how people interact with each other.  Invariably Tik Tok becomes a topic of conversation in particular its educational value.  Some would be landlords want someone who will give them their private space and others want a far more communal environment.  It is interesting to watch the prospective renters’ reactions to judge whether they truly believe in what is being said through their words and body language.  Hard to imagine conducting an interview with someone while eating as the action shows a lack of class and etiquette but then again one gets a “we are making this up as we go along” feeling for the proceedings.

In truth, the narrative has a stretched out-quality that makes one wonder if a short film format would have been more suited given the content.  Filmmaker Halima Elkhatabi should be given credit for letting the documentary subjects do the storytelling instead of forcing herself upon them and the viewer.  In the end when everyone leaves the rooms everything is left hanging in the air and the prevailing question is, ‘What was the point?’  Not that everything has to be neatly tied in a bow but it would be nice to find out what were the actual results of the interviews and whether the prospective roommates turned out to be livable companions.

The 49th Toronto International Film Festival runs September 5-15, 2024, and for more information visit tiff.net.    

Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada; he can be found at LinkedIn.

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