Living Together

With affordable housing in short supply, young adults are increasingly struggling to find a place to call home. Halima Elkhatabi’s droll documentary invites us to view 15 apartments in Montreal, where a diverse assortment of potential roommates interview each other to determine their compatibility. The ensuing conversations (many of them involving Gen Z) constitute an intricate and often humorous dance of self-disclosures and boundary-testing: would their potential new roomie mind their lengthy showers? How about table-saw noise? Or the need to store 100 unsorted Lego sets?

Authentic connections emerge as the film’s subjects gush about passions ranging from voguing to stand-up comedy to film, poetry, and Lebanese music, unveiling a rich tapestry of cultural interests. Heartfelt discussions soon unfold on the topics of white privilege, patriarchy, neurodiversity, sexuality, and mental health. It’s a disarming film about how we unveil our true selves to those strangers who may, or may not, turn out to be our closest friends.