Saffron Burrows Movie:

Hotel Reviews:
Corridors of the psyche...
2009-10-21 - "The Hotel"(2001) is an experimental, dogma film, directed by Mike Figgis, and shot in Venice. In the Hotel Hungaria there are various groups of people, such as a film crew, which is shooting "The Duchess of Malfi", as well as a hit man, a call girl, and a Hollywood producer. The production started with a structure, but no script, and so the actors were asked to improvise. Mike Higgis filmed the movie with a specially rigged digital camera, sometimes utilizing night vision, which gave some of the sequences an eery quality, with the actors eyes being strangely lit up like phantoms of the night. At other times Figgis divided the screen into quadrants which emphasized the notion of various stories inside the hotel taking place at the same time.

The film has a mesmerizing quality about it. For those who have the patience to stick with the film one gradually is submerged into a kind of dreamy surreal world. Is there really any story or meaning here? There seems to be, but maybe not, it's as if one is pulled off into a world where imagination and reality shift about each other, as we wander through the corridors and rooms of the hotel, and then out into the dark, mysterious Venetian streets and canals.

Music and sound form an important aspect of the movie. The click clack of the flamenco dancers shoes echoes throughout the film like a motif of passion. Piano chords dramatically portend to the dangers lurking in this hotel. The movie opens with a surreal scene of cannibalism, with diners dining in cell like quarters. The danger is always there. As one occupant mentions, Venice has a sordid history. The prison in the gothic Ducal Palace sits on the perimeter of St. Mark's square where the actors are performing. People seem unbounded by social codes of conduct, and act to their base desires, and instincts. Some engage in sexual behavior, while others behave like dogs, or werewolves transformed by the night, as two of the men periodically snarl into each other's faces.

In some ways I'm reminded of the movie "Last Year at Marienbad", where we're taken through an environment of memories, and reality is only as stable as the character's memory of the events. As in "Marienbad" there are moments of desire and ecstasy. Figgis, though, takes these desires a step further, moving into erotic dream like fantasies: a bare breasted woman, leaning on a table, pushes slowly up and down, dipping her nipples into glasses of milk; in another room, a woman visits a man in the middle of the night, sensuously opens her blouse, and mounts the man, erotically licking his lips as he fondles her breasts. Eroticism and danger build as the film progresses down these dark corridors of the psyche which open up to us like the labyrinth of canals of Venice.

flushable
2009-02-18 - One of the most bizarre things about this film is the all star cast. How could they appear in this movie? It is one of the stupidest things I have ever seen. I am embarrassed for them. This move is not thrilling, not engaging, not entertaining. Boring. Imbecilic. This film is about as appealing as dog-do on my shoe. The jacket description is totally misleading. Thank God I got this one in the bargain box. $4.00 is still too much to pay for this. I pity anyone who has purchased this at Amazon's current price.

Hotel
2008-06-30 - We cannot get into watching this movie. it is to convoluted to keep up with. Should have a negative rating system for this one.

It's the producer's fault
2007-07-24 - heh...the words on the jacket: "a deliciously disturbing and erotically charged thriller"... are rather shameless hyperbole.

Instead, this film is remarkable for one thing alone: how the director squanders acting talent and beauty (Salma Hayek, Chiara Mastroianni, Ornella Muti, Lucy Liu!), financial resources, and the luminous backdrop of Venice to produce a film that is not even a flop but rather resembles an uncut first year film student's independent project... a very average project, that is.

The words that come to mind are 'breathless', 'pretentious' and 'incompetent'. Generally, the designation "art film" means that the director is unable to focus or use a script and needs to resort to gimmickry. this certainly is true for the Hotel. The 'macabre' we see is simply an excuse for Figgis' lack of imagination; the exquisite Dutchess of Malfi text is abused rather than used. The two good scenes (with John Malkovich, in the beginning; the flamenco scene in the middle) are never developed.

My basic issue with the film is that it is basically soul-less.

This is not due to Figgis' incompetence alone. The film should never have been produced.

Come to think of it, The Hotel should be required viewing for film students, a lesson in how great actors and a lot of money are not enough to make a good flick. There is something else.

A tone poem called Hotel
2007-07-09 - This movie is simply one of the best films I've ever seen in my life. Yes, it is unconventional but not in some far out, puzzling way like Peter Greenaway's films. Every moment made perfect sense. It is incredibly erotic, funny, and fascinating. It moves like a poem, and I found myself rewinding several times just to watch a scene again and catch the phrasing. This is not Legally Blonde. Your brain will be engaged. Highlights are Salma Hayek's adorably bad singing, Rhys iffans acting like the director from hell, and the absolutely luminous acting of Saffron Burrow's who in my opinion is one of the finest and most underated actresses working today. If you are ever looking for a good film, just look at her filmography -- she has chosen very excellent and difficult films.