Certainly one of the strangest films I have seen in a long time, Hotel is also one of the most engaging, initially. It walks a tightrope between real intrigue and absolute garbage, mixes in an almost-documentary on a production-in-progress of The Duchess of Malfi, and works as a name-that-celeb game for awhile.
As the film progresses, though, it sort of disintegrates into a very surreal montage of out-of-body experiences, absurdist theatre and out-of -focus film-making. The camera trick of showing us a windowpane of 4 scenes at the same time almost works the first time as a curiosity piece of how these scenes are related but eventually becomes a trite way for the filmmakers to regain our attention after so many dull scenes of hospital room, film set, etc.
At its best moments, Hotel keeps us guessing about who the next "course" will be (Malkovich? another "inmate?") for the basement feast and about how that victim will meet their fate, but at its worst ones, we're forced to wade through so many dead-end subplots to then wonder if the filmmakers remember what kind of intrigue they had initially created.
What starts as an interesting premise, then (of cannibalistic hotel staff meet self-righteous but ultimately vulnerable film crew), devolves into a kaleidoscope of minimal suspense amid dominating doldrums.
Don't bother worrying about catching every moment in the 4-paned scenes, then-- in the end, you're not really missing that much. Check out Hotel, but check out from it if you must. ;-)
As the film progresses, though, it sort of disintegrates into a very surreal montage of out-of-body experiences, absurdist theatre and out-of -focus film-making. The camera trick of showing us a windowpane of 4 scenes at the same time almost works the first time as a curiosity piece of how these scenes are related but eventually becomes a trite way for the filmmakers to regain our attention after so many dull scenes of hospital room, film set, etc.
At its best moments, Hotel keeps us guessing about who the next "course" will be (Malkovich? another "inmate?") for the basement feast and about how that victim will meet their fate, but at its worst ones, we're forced to wade through so many dead-end subplots to then wonder if the filmmakers remember what kind of intrigue they had initially created.
What starts as an interesting premise, then (of cannibalistic hotel staff meet self-righteous but ultimately vulnerable film crew), devolves into a kaleidoscope of minimal suspense amid dominating doldrums.
Don't bother worrying about catching every moment in the 4-paned scenes, then-- in the end, you're not really missing that much. Check out Hotel, but check out from it if you must. ;-)