Independent Films, Film Profiles

Home Room (film)

Home Room is an independent film starring Erika Christensen, Busy Philipps and Victor Garber. It premiered in the Taos Talking Picture Festival on 12 April 2002, and made its limited theatrical release on 5 September 2003.A school massacre leaves nine students dead and one student named Deanna Cartwright (played by Christensen) seriously injured. The shooter himself is dead, shot by police during the confrontation after the actual shooting, and the only witness (and possible suspect) is Alicia Browning (played by Philipps), a Goth student who is now under the attention of the detective in charge of the case, Det. Martin Van Zandt (played by Garber).The school principal asks Alicia to visit Deanna in the hospital. Right away, their differences are evident. Alicia is an outsider from a single-parent family who shuns the society that similarly shuns her, while Deanna is from a wealthy family, gets good grades and is popular with her classmates.At first, Deanna seems upbeat and cheerful but soon it becomes apparent that beneath this exterior lies psychological scars left behind by the incident. Alicia starts to empathize with her, as she herself is battling her own demons as well, including a previous suicide attempt. Through these similar emotional bonds, the two form an unlikely friendship as they both try to cope with their separate psychological problems.