BACKROOMS

Director: Kane Parsons
Starring: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve, Lukita Maxwell, Finn Bennet, Mark Duplass

2026 may have seen box office success for blockbusters like The Odyssey and Spider-Man Brand New Day. Audiences also flocked to small budget films from new directors like Kane Parsons. His film Backrooms stemmed from his own web series and had audiences riveted. It has become the highest grossing film for prestige studio A24. It stars Chiwetel Ejiofor as Clark, who is lonely and works at a furniture store. He lives in the store sleeping afterhours after separating from his wife. He’s seeing a therapist (Reinsve) who is working on a theory regarding neuro pathways of least resistance to protect the individual at hand. She tries to help him understand the difference between being lonely and being alone. Late one night Clark sees a mysterious door appear in the interior walls of the furniture store. He gets sucked into a portal where there’s a series of bare rooms, furniture stacked together, and one wall after the next in a series of hallways and areas that don’t seem to make sense.

Here’s my review