Do you watch lots of PBS? Is your style of human drama miles away from special effects or techno-glitz and you prefer your intrigue mostly depicted in bucolic, old fashioned country settings? If you said yes to both, I have a great flick for you:

Other Voices, Other Rooms, based on the Truman Capote’s novel of the same name, recounts the life of Joel Samson in an old plantation mansion in the deep South.

The photography in this film is quite outstanding. The lazy and long shots perhaps meant to reinforce the atmosphere of that place and time: 9 year old Joel overhears his custodian uncle and aunt discussing between them what he’s most afraid of:  the possibility of being sent off back home.

Except, he’s never been there. His wealthy father abandoned both him and his mother and never returned. Yes, it is known where he lives but apparently it matters not, since he’s never requested nor his wife nor the boy to come back to see him. Talks of a mistress are always present as a way of explaining why…

Now things are different. Joel’s mom is dead. He has no choice and soon begins the long trip back home to his father’s old mansion in an old plantation. What awaits him is not your average case of Southern Hospitality. Instead, an eccentric and ‘perturbed-looking’ woman awaits him at the entrance door and introduces herself as Amy Scully, mistress of the house.

She then shows him inside the somewhat decrepit mansion which speaks out loud, in the past tense, of former wealth and glory…. Actually, of a lot more wealth than glory, for there’s no glory whatsoever in this house.

Joel’s initial demands of seeing his father right away are first brushed off easily. As days go by and he finally meets Amy’s ‘cousin’, Randolph, he continues to insist on seeing his father. Finally the moment comes, certainly not as planned by the debauched couple.

When Joel meets his father, he realizes why he’s been prevented from seeing him before. His father lies in bed; he’s a crippled man with a distant, unrecognizing stare.

Now what? Joel wonders.

For a kid however, life goes on: amid the unusual attention he gets from Randolph –who spends most of his time drunk - and the care he receives from Sue, the house’s black servant, his days start lazily going by.

As weeks go by, some kind of relationship between Randolph and Joel begins to form. Randolph often uses the boy’s questions to reply in deeply convoluted and philosophical ways which are meant more to satiate his thirsty ego than to actually address to young boy. Soon, he convinces the boy to pose for him in his studio and begins a portrait of him. This gives them even more time to spend together.

Joel’s letters to his aunt and close friend are prevented by Amy to reach their destination. It’s important the young boy stays alone with them two. At least for now. When the worried aunt finally comes to visit and drop off the rest of Joel’s belongings left behind in her house, Amy rushes off the box behind a staircase –a magnifying lens inside it falls out without her noticing.

When the boy returns with Randolph from a ‘long picnic’ in the woods, he finds the glass and demands to be told the truth: and this, you won’t expect. The boy soon realizes all he’s been told is a lie and his only choice is to run away… yet again.

Other Rooms, Other Voices is now available on DVD from Ariztical Entertainment, a premier studio often releasing titles the major studios won’t. Visit their site at: www.ariztical.com