Hotel (2004)

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

As Good As It Gets

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The idea of the film appealed to me. It seemed promising but I bought the DVD and was disappointed. The film was too obviously pieces from other films like "the Shining", "Picnic at Hanging Rock" and even "A Passage to India" (the kiss in the cave). It could have been a good mix of these mysterious and eerie elements but it did not work. The film was predictable and not scary in the least. There were too many confusing jumps in time. All of a sudden it was night time, then day. One moment the girl was indoors, the next outside... It was not helped by the one-note performances by the actors. The lead girl had no charisma and I finally did not care what happened to her. I do not know why it was shown at cinemas in Sweden or even released on DVD! Maybe people thought the photography was arty. A lot of modern photography today looks like scenes from this movie. You can see stuff looking like that in art museums. As a film there was too little worth remembering.

The stuffy provincial atmosphere reminds me of "Requiem" or "Dogville", but the lighting is more like "2046" or "The Matrix". Irene (Franziska Weisz) is the new girl at the movie's eponymous hotel. She isn't the paranoid type, but soon feels slightly claustrophobic nevertheless. In fact, neither Irene nor the camera get to leave the hotel until 20 minutes into the movie. Although her colleagues' disposition ranges from grumpy to openly hostile, she can't be sure she'd be better off outside. We are led to believe the girl Irene is replacing went out and never came back. For there's a witch lurking in the forest. Or something. No matter where Irene goes, there are curtains everywhere to conceal the truth. The fact that there is no music other than from the creaky speaker in the elevator (and Irene's noisy next-door neighbors) adds to the eerie mood. There are obvious overtones of "Lost Highway", especially when Irene discovers she looks almost exactly like the missing girl. Of course, there is no living up to this promise. "Hotel" is probably a little too stylish for its own good, but it's a real pleasure to look at and leaves you feeling agreeably spooked.

I usually don't comment what fellow critics on IMDb write, but giving this little masterpiece only an average of 4,2 is bad taste indeed. In short; it's been a while since one saw a movie there so much happens, even if you don't see all of it on the screen. Franziska Weiss is really great, with a face which tells you a lot, with just a small correction of the glimpse in her eyes.This is creepy, but in a way you might be rather familiar with from your own life. That life is here, by very small means, a nightmare. Maybe the end doesn't really fulfill what is promised, not really. Maybe the camera spotlights in the forest surrounding the hotel are too sharp.But still this is supposed to give you much worse dreams than for example "The Grudge", which is made by amateurs.

One of the numerous films that had a great deal of buzz about it prior to its premier at the Cannes Films Festival. The reviews and feelings of many I spoke with about this film were mixed to say the least. This is the first full length film by Hausner and she did a marvelous job. The plot is simple enough...Girl begins working at a Hotel up in the mountains, after her predecessor mysteriously went missing. The eerie shots and mood of the film are relentless. I think what made this movie for me was that it did not give into the temptation to be a Hollywood film. It was not a jump-out-of-your-seat movie, but was enhanced because of that. It broke so many of the typical Hollywood norms, especially the length of the shots. I don't want to give too much away because I want everyone to be able to experience the film in the same unknowing manner in which I was able to. A must see, easily one of the top 3 films at Cannes this year!!!!!