Scanialara
You won't be disappointed!
Brightlyme
i know i wasted 90 mins of my life.
Dorathen
Better Late Then Never
DipitySkillful
an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.
tedg
Spoilers herein.We have three scriptwriting devices here: the elevation of a space to a character, the notion of narrative composition by multiple layers and the shuffling of time.I think it would take competence in all three and some integration among the three to make this work. The first is done poorly, and that's the problem. When you collapse the time, you have to expand the notion of space. I'm sure the young scriptwriter was aware of this rule, but the intent in practice turned into simply lush art design.That fumble kills this, plus some bad acting in one of the stories, the musician and maid.The integration between the other two is good enough so far as the flow of edits, and a few actual events: a shot that spans time, a common actress and common character in the framing stories. The music editor did a good job in understanding how the story about music should infuse the score for the whole project.But it misses a greater opportunity. These stories should play off each other in some way. Its not just an anthology, it is a layering, a layering in this case that sets the table but forgets the meal. It does at least reference the meal (in the book of poems). Rack this one up as inspired writing and ordinarily competent but unknowing directing."Things You Can Tell By..." was a layering that worked for me. It doesn't shuffle time, but plays on repeated little motions and phrases of the actors. They combine to give one multidimensional "story." "13 Conversations" does the same thing well, but in a different way.Projects like this, in my experience are inherently feminine, they require the actresses to bind. I have seen Lindy Booth in "Wrong Turn" where she had a couple moments where she played outside the vision of the director, and worked the red hair she wore. That moment piqued my interest. Here, she tries two varieties of mystery and utterly fails. She's off my list.Mia Kirshner is different. Like Alicia Witt, she was the goddesslike, hypnotizing child player at the core of an important project. And that project, Mia's, is incidentally one of the best films ever made: it is about life as inept performance slipping into sexual ritual. What a setup for her role here!She knows it and exploits it. That's her job and it almost makes the whole trip worthwhile.Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.
squodge
I got this film on the strength of one actress that I like... Lindy Booth. Her performance in Century Hotel seems a little below par, but it was adequate.The film doesn't seem to go anyway in the first hour, but then it unfolds nicely after that. Which is unfortunate since the film is only about 90 minutes long.The Cantonese pronunciations were absolutely crap. I didn't they just stick to using imitation bad English (Canadian) accents instead of getting the actors to speak very poor Cantonese? Or perhaps they should have rewritten that part of the script. Sorry, it's a nitpick, but I believe films are an art form and, as such, should be given more TLC than Century Hotel was given.I did like the little "twist" regarding the soldier guy who was soon to be married to his sweetheart who he hadn't seen for a long time. Watch the film and you'll find out!All in all, this wasn't a bad film. But they could've done so much more with it. 6/10 is a fair indication of its entertainment value.
Michael Cumming
The problem with a lot of films that revolve around a central concept is the rest of the film suffers because the writer figures that one idea can carry the film.While "Century Hotel" is far from "brilliant" or a "must see" but it is quite good. It's cleverness is nicely balanced with sincere emotion and gender/socio-political commentary.Also the chance to see Chantal Kreviazuk playing maid and Raine Maida as a paranoid, drug, addict, agoraphobic rock star is too tempting to pass up.One of the better English Canadian films I've seen but if you really want to see some incredible Canadian cinema check out "Jésus de Montreal", "Léolo", "A Tout Prendre" and "Le Confessional".
talkingmuffin
I just saw this film last night at the Victoria Independent Film Festival and was very impressed. The intertwining stories of eroticism, death, betrayal, love and understanding were a feast for the eyes and the heart. David Weaver and Co. give a lesson in how to construct a beautiful movie on a limited budget with a minimum of location.The set design was impeccable. From the opulence of the turn of the century to the stark functionality of the recession era 80's the designers managed to capture the essence of each era in the furnishings and decorative aspects of the room.Less than convincing was Raine Maida's effort at the cliched emotionally unstable rock star recluse. I suppose my judgment is clouded by seeing the excellent portrayal of said cliche by Maury Chaykin in Whale Music. Also, the dialogue between Raine and Chantal was strained and really didn't fit into the stream of the rest of the movie.Of particular enjoyment were the scenes between the Hotel Detective and the Nerdy Book Lover. Their chemistry together was unmistakable. The simplistic dissection of the nature of love between a man and a woman gave me many a laugh.All in all, a highly recommended Canadian flick.9/10
