A man drifts through the world. He fears commitment. One morning, he wakes to find everyone except him has disappeared from the face of the earth.

A low key survivalist drama in the mode of Robinson Crusoe and Castaway, In My Room follows Armin, played with expressive detachment by Hans Low. An aimless 40-something-year-old man, Armin is left to rebuild the empty world as he sees fit. Stripped of all human interference, only his choices remain… but much freedom can be its own prison.

Eventually, Armin connects with a young woman, another survivor of the unnamed apocalypse. Director Ulrich Köhler, the auteur of alienation behind Sleeping Sickness and Bungalow, asks whether extreme circumstances cause people to change, or if they remain fundamentally themselves.

Screened in the Un Certain Regard category of the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, In My Room is a film of small moments, details, and the ambience of the world after most people are gone.

Description courtesy of Ian Sanquist. All images on this page courtesy of Grasshopper Films. Visit their page for full photo credits.

“Köhler’s post-apocalyptic world is realized with great economy…. I’d love to go on talking about the various turns, but we’re already treading lightly on the narrative’s tastiest reveals.” – Rory O’Connor, The Film Stage

“A mysterious and surprising movie. A wondrously wry and counterintuitive tale of post-apocalyptic survival.” – Justin Chang, LA Times

“In My Room is a film about emptiness, yet it clamors with ideas.” – Jeanette Catsoulis, New York Times

“An elegant, exacting character study.” – Guy Lodge, Variety