***spoilers***

Have you seen Backrooms?

In this movie, the main character finds his way into a labyrinth of warehouse-type rooms that don’t seem quite right. They keep going and going. And going. The deeper he goes, the weirder things seem to get. There are heavy footsteps that he hears initially… and eventually, he is trapped, with a strange, angry copy of himself (and others).

His psychologist finds him there, and in the repetitive nature of the backrooms, accompanied by several unearthly-looking characters, they re-enact a conversation they had earlier in the movie.

This leads us to a scene in the movie that was one of the favorites- he admits to her that he doesn’t want to change. Tearfully. She tells him point blank, kindly, then don’t.

Just after this radical acceptance of himself, he is offed by-you guessed it-the pirate copy of himself.

I loved this movie for a lot of reasons. But I really loved the characters’ psychological journeys. The one where our protagonist admits to himself that he just wants to stay the way he is. And where the psychologist admits- “I can’t help you.”

Ultimately it’s the architect turned crappy-furniture-salesman’s acceptance of himself that really struck a chord with me. We live in a society full of self-improvement media, products, and gurus who make a lot of money off this idea of “you need to change” something. Whether that’s your hair, your body, the way you think about yourself or whatever. There is something refreshing about a person who says-here I am. And I’m okay with me. Warts and all.

I’ve seen this movie twice now. 😛 If you’re looking for something spooky to do this weekend, check out Backrooms. And if you do, let me know what you think. Have a great weekend.

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