Hotel (2001)

38% of critics liked it
(26 reviews)
33% of users liked it
(1,389 ratings)

Following up on his innovative work Timecode, which featured four stories being told in real time simultaneously, Mike Figgis returns to a modified form of his technique in this film about the tourists, the prostitutes, the tour guides, a killer, and a film crew who frequent the Hungarian Palace… More Following up on his innovative work Timecode, which featured four stories being told in real time simultaneously, Mike Figgis returns to a modified form of his technique in this film about the tourists, the prostitutes, the tour guides, a killer, and a film crew who frequent the Hungarian Palace Hotel in Venice, Italy. A corrupt Eastern European politician and his moll are visiting the city to complete a shady business deal while Sophie is a high-priced call girl who makes an office in one of the hotel's suites. The film crew is attempting to shoot a Dogma 95-style adaptation of John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi only to run into one problem after another. Magic is a professional assassin with a very odd kink -- he must have sex immediately after completing a job. Quintus, who abandoned his attempts to get fame and fortune as an actor, is a tour guide with an unusual secret. And then there is maid who not only has the skeleton key to the hotel, but also a habit of snooping. This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

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Directed By: Mike Figgis
Written By: Mike Figgis
Genres: Drama, Horror

In Theaters: Jul 25, 2003 Wide
Studio: Innovation Film Group

Critic Reviews

Desson Thomson, Washington Post
Wears out its welcome pretty fast.
John Monaghan, Detroit Free Press
Pretentious avant-garde comedy.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
A movie that works in no conventional sense, and succeeds in several unconventional ones.
Robert K. Elder, Chicago Tribune
Pretensions permeate Hotel, which, as a movie about movies, is the cinematic equivalent of a humor column in The Hollywood Reporter.
Bob Campbell, Newark Star-Ledger
It's a love-it-or- hate-it proposition.
Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper
If you came across Hotel playing on monitors in a museum of contemporary art it would grab your attention for a while, but as a movie, it's too pretentious, too confusing and just too much.
Jason Gorber, Film Scouts
Its convoluted, highly allegorical story line will put off many. However, it is certainly a fresh and original take on digital cinema, and, for no other reason, it may be appreciated as a film stretching the very form of filmmaking.
Scott Weinberg, DVDTalk.com
A crystal-clear example of what happens when actors and filmmakers congregate with too much time on their hands.
Christopher Null, Filmcritic.com
Are you trying to tell me that Salma Hayek actually understood this script and I did not?
Jay Antani, Los Angeles Alternative
it's through its anarchic, try-anything chutzpah that this bizarrely erotic satire succeeds and entertains
Maitland McDonagh, TV Guide's Movie Guide
A train wreck of a film whose chaotic, partly improvised story and too-tricky mix of film stocks, image sizes, split-screen effects and color/B&W footage overwhelm some phenomenally beautiful sequences and a memorable performance by Saffron Burroughs.

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Featured Audience Ratings

Anthony L

Odd film this. Odd and pretentious. I quite like odd films but not pretentious ones. It has an interesting cast and is an interesting experiment but Mike Figgis really needs to put his hands up and own up to this being a terrible mistake. He?s a great director though so I?ll forgive… More
Odd film this. Odd and pretentious. I quite like odd films but not pretentious ones. It has an interesting cast and is an interesting experiment but Mike Figgis really needs to put his hands up and own up to this being a terrible mistake. He?s a great director though so I?ll forgive him but for anyone else, that would be it!
Walter M

[font=Century Gothic]With "Hotel", director Mike Figgis cuts down on some of the same techniques he used in his previous experimental film, "Time Code", like multiple images and filming in real time(which works better in a thriller like "24", anyway).… More
[font=Century Gothic]With "Hotel", director Mike Figgis cuts down on some of the same techniques he used in his previous experimental film, "Time Code", like multiple images and filming in real time(which works better in a thriller like "24", anyway). This time he comes up with something approaching a lucid narrative. The movie is about the production of a film version of "The Duchess of Malfi" in Venice under Dogme 95 rules(although technically you could not make a period piece under those rules...) by a maniacal director(Rhys Ifans) which is being recorded for posterity by a documentary filmmaker(Salma Hayek). [/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]"Hotel" gets off to a good start but becomes incoherent about the time that Burt Reynolds shows up. There are several sex scenes which have no context and a mistaken identity subplot is never resolved. Michael Winterbottom did a much better job and had much more fun with with the similarly themed "Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story".[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]It seems like the large and varied cast is improvising much of the dialogue, giving actors including Rhys Ifans, Salma Hayek and Julian Sands free rein to dominate over everybody else. Surprisingly, David Schwimmer is the calm in the middle of the storm.[/font]

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Cast

Rhys Ifans
as Trent Stoken
Saffron Burrows
as Duchess of Malfi
David Schwimmer
as Jonathan Danderfine
Salma Hayek
as Charlee Boux
Burt Reynolds
as Flamenco Manager
Julian Sands
as Quintus
Danny Huston
as Hotel Manager
Lucy Liu
as Kawika
Mia Maestro
as Latin Actress
Chiara Mastroianni
as Nurse
Laura Morante
as Gretta
Ornella Muti
as Flamenco Manager's Wife
Heathcote Williams
as Bosola
Jason Isaacs
as Australian Actor
Fabrizio Bentivoglio
Brian Bovell
George DiCenzo
Christopher Fulford
Valeria Golino
Mark Long
Valentina Cervi
Nicola Farron
Jeremy Hardy
Mark Strong
Stefania Rocca
Andrea Di Stefano
Max Beesley
as Antonio
Elisabetta Cavallotti
Danny Sapani
Alexandra Staden
Eva Yerbabuena
Paco Jarana
John Malkovich

See more (33)

Hotel (2001)

Critic Reviews

Featured Audience Ratings

Anthony L

Walter M

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