Hotel is a 2001 comedy/horror/thriller from acclaimed Academy Award-nominated director Mike Figgis (Leaving Las Vegas, Stormy Monday and Timecode). The film has an excellent ensemble cast including Max Beesley (The Gentleman, Hijack and The Outsider), Saffron Burrows (Troy, Mozart in the Jungle and The Bank Job), Rhys Ifans (The Boat That Rocked, Notting Hill and The Amazing Spiderman), Salma Hayek (Desperado, Frida and Dogma),  Lucy Liu (Charlie’s Angels, Kill Bill Vol.1 and Chicago), Burt Reynolds (Smokey and the Bandit, Cannonball Run and Boogie Nights), Julian Sands (Naked Lunch, Warlock and Argento’s Phantom of the Opera) and David Schwimmer (Friends, band of Brothers and Six Days, Seven Nights) and John Malkovich (Being John Malkovich, Red and In the Line of Fire). 

The events of the movie take place in a hotel in Venice, a British film crew is shooting a new adaptation of The Duchess of Malfi, a Jacobean revenge tragedy written by John Webster in 1612-13. The crew are in turn are being filmed by a documentary film crew who are making a behind-the-scenes, warts and all documentary film. The film begins with the crew sitting down to eat a meal prepared by the hotel staff, in which they are being served human flesh. Added to this, there is a plot based around a call girl, a hitman and a Hollywood producer.  Hotel is Mike Figgis’ stab at replicating the Dogme-95 style of avant-garde filmmaking that developed in Denmark through Lars Von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg. The Dogme-95 movement follows ten strict rules that must be evident in the movie; these include no sets, diegetic sound, handheld cameras, natural lighting and no visual effects, to name just a few of the main characteristics. Think of Godard’s A Bout De Souffle as the key inspiration for the movement. 

Hotel is an interesting experiment; it has not always received a great deal of positive attention from the media, but to film fans, there is a lot to enjoy here. Does everything work? No, some scenes are memorable for the wrong reasons, while others are remembered for being something extraordinary.  Most people will find it confusing and difficult to understand what Figgis is trying to say, but for me, the thing that leaps from the screen is Figgis’ hatred of having to work within the Hollywood system; everyone seems detestable, and their egos are out of control. The movie is getting made despite all of these different people, and the involvement from actors to director, to producer and everyone else just complicates the process. What we have is a film that highlights the way Hollywood holds back a director from creating his true vision, by pandering to the requirements of the studio, the producer and the actors. 

Personally, I found Hotel to be an interesting slice of surrealism that has elements in common with David Lynch’s Inland Empire. There is a lot of interesting stuff going on throughout the movie, and I imagine that further viewings will bring new information to light each time. Hotel packs a lot of exposition into less than two hours, which is something that I love about cinema. I don’t want everything spoon-fed to me, I like to be able to see new things each time I watch something. This is one of the main reasons I love David Lynch and Alejandro Jodorowsky. 

The new US DVD from MVD Marquee Collection features the film in all its shaky cam glory, which is far less difficult to cope with than the Blair Witch Project and its nausea-inducing hand cam shake. There is also a making-of documentary, web shorts, a photo gallery and the theatrical trailer.  If you like cinema that keeps giving, then you may enjoy this, however, if you love linear storytelling, this is probably not for you.