If the sensational horror 'Barbarian' were turned into a romantic comedy, one of the options could be Katie Holmes's new film 'Alone Together'. There are plenty of Airbnb problems, phrases about psychopaths, and also love during the mask mandate.

The first days of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York. News about the virus spreading appears in the media, and everyone is urged to reduce contact with people and isolate. The main character June, along with her boyfriend John, rents a house outside the city via Airbnb to wait things out until everything becomes clear. But John gets stuck in New York, and June, upon arriving at the house, finds out it has also been rented to another person — Charlie. He lets June stay overnight to sort out the situation later, but in the end, they have to deal with completely different problems.

Katie Holmes continues to try her hand at directing films, and this time she served as director, screenwriter, and producer of the movie. So it's fair to say that 'Alone Together' is an auteur film by the actress, whose career hasn't included many rom-coms. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why her film didn't turn out to be quite a romantic comedy.

The film follows a fairly standard genre template with all the main stages and finale. The movie can't be faulted for a lack of romance or poor acting: Katie Holmes and Jim Sturgess charmingly play the roles of two lovers. Everything turns out very sweet and pleasant. But every time the (belated) reflections on the coronavirus are brought to the forefront to add depth, the film loses some of its charm. Katie Holmes's idea, apparently, was to show that even in the darkest times, there is light. But in the end, the attempt to rise above and be more than a rom-com led to mixed results.

There have already been quite a few films on the theme of 'locked down together during the pandemic.' The dynamics of the characters' relationships were shown in detail, for example, in the films 'Lockdown' and 'Together'. There, as in 'Alone Together', the main fears of the COVID-19 era were articulated: loss of loved ones, uncertainty of the future, and confusion in the present. The usual foundations of the world were crumbling, and everyone was learning to live by new rules.

But such films were released during or at least towards the end of the pandemic and resonated with viewers due to the relevance of the events and a certain sense of documentary, even though they were fiction films. Katie Holmes released her film almost a year after the coronavirus disappeared from the front pages of the media, and people began to get used to living in a noisy society again (and grew tired of discussing COVID). Because of this, the scenes with social distancing and mask mandates don't look as impressive and touching.

A distinctive feature of rom-coms has always been lightness and unobtrusiveness, which the film 'Alone Together' lacks. The world is going crazy, and the main character is too, which sometimes adds charm and sometimes irritates. Hence the questions about some of the characters' actions, as if taken in a fit of excessive frivolity.

Notably, despite the bumpy script, the film has moments with interesting visual optics. I'm referring to the nature shots, where suddenly there is more creative, auteur, rather than commercially stylized, feeling. The scenes of June's solitary walks in the forest seem to have been included from another project: they have a special warmth and naturalness that are pleasing to the eye. Consciously or not, these moments are contrasted with everything else in the film: while chaos reigns around, nature is calm and measured. And Katie Holmes's character goes on walks precisely to find support and balance.

'Alone Together' is not an ideal rom-com, if it can even be considered one. It's a mix of romantic comedy and drama, where Katie Holmes herself can't decide what exactly she wants. But if you don't build up any 'rom-com' expectations, 'Alone Together' can delight and make you think about more important things than which guy to go on a date with. And at the very least, it's guaranteed that your heart will be stolen by the cute turkeys in the backyard of the country house.

The film is released in Russian cinemas on February 14 with the support of Russian World Vision.