Review of Century Hotel (2001) by Heather V — 26 Mar 2004

I've seen a whole lot of movies lately - it's a shame these entries only allow five at a time.

[b][color=white][u]CENTURY HOTEL[/u][/color][/b].

I'm the first person to admit that Canadian content isn't always a high point when it comes to TV and movies. Even so, I was curious about this one - it stars Mia Kirschner, who is one of my favourite Canadian actresses, and it also features Chantal Kreviazuk and her husband Raine Maida (Our Lady Peace), both fairly heavy-hitters in the Cdn. music scene. So I thought, "What the hell? It can't be too bad." I was right about that. It was far better than "not too bad".

The story circulates around room 720 in a century-old Toronto hotel. Unified by one thread about a girl who has come to stay overnight in the present day, and has the lore related to her by an aging bellman, the movie jumps through several different decades. There's the reluctantly-newlywed couple in the 1920s who stay in Room 720 when it's the bridal suite. There's a woman who has been brought to Canada from China as a mail-order bride in the '30s. There's a tale of a woman who's welcoming back her war-hero fiance and his best friend in the '40s. There's the film-noir segment about the man who is in Toronto to search for his wife, who left him, in the '50s. There's the reclusive rock star (Maida) who uses his chamber maid (Kreviazuk) as inspiration for a new song in the late '60s. And there's my favourite story of them all - the businessman at the edge of the recession in the '80s, and the hooker (Kirschner) with whom he has an unexpected bond.

The movie cuts from one era to the next without mixing anything up, and each story is interesting enough that you can't wait to get back to it to see what happens next. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the whole film. If you can find it in your video store, rent it. Odds are you'll fall in love with at least one of the seven interwoven stories.

[color=white][b][u]IRRéVERSIBLE[/u][/b][/color].

I'd wanted to see this because it had a reputation for being "very disturbing", and seeing as not much disturbs me, I took that as a challenge. Ha. Stupid me. It disturbed me, all right. Made me nauseous, even.

The story works in reverse, starting with the end credits rolling. It takes you backwards, sort of like "Memento" (which was a better movie), through an evening in the life of a woman (Monica Bellucci) and her ex- and current boyfriends. We first see them seeking revenge on a man, though we don't yet know what he's done, in a gay club called "The Rectum". The things we're shown happening in this club are...unspeakable. What the two guys do to the man they're seeking when they find him is graphic and stomach-churning. Then we get to go further back into the story, to see just what this guy did to deserve his fate - and we get to watch a steadicam-filmed, 15-minute-long, single shot/single take scene in which Bellucci's character is raped, sodomized, beaten and otherwise humiliated in a tunnel on her way home from a party. It's unlike anything I've seen before, and I hope I never see anything like it again.

The story ends at the beginning, with some material that makes you realize just why the woman's subsequent rape and torture are that much more tragic. It's depressing and graphic and sickening. To give credit where it's due, the acting is very good. But the violence is so graphic that it feels...exploitive. Too much. We didn't need to see every last second of that to have it be effective. And when more than half an hour of a 90-minute movie is dedicated to ultra-graphic violence...? Too much even for the strongest stomach.

[u][b][color=white]DEAD RINGERS[/color][/b][/u].

You'll never go to the gynecologist again! This is one of David Cronenberg's best movies, a story about twins (played wonderfully by Jeremy Irons) who share an ob/gyn practice. There isn't a lot I can say without ruining the story, but the personality differences between the twins (and the fact that not everyone realizes there are two of them) makes for some [i]really[/i] interesting situations - especially when one of them goes crazy and invents some new-fangled equipment to use on infertile women. Be prepared to watch the entire thing with your knees together. It's brilliant.

[b][u][color=white]HEAVENLY CREATURES[/color][/u][/b].

Kate Winslet and Melanie Lynskey are pretty fantastic in their first-ever movie (which was, incidentally, directed by Peter Jackson). It's a true story about two girls who become friends in New Zealand, and their friendship develops into something obsessive. They become fixated on each other and on the fantasy world about which they write. When their sets of parents become alarmed about how much time they're spending together, a plan is hatched to separate them...and the girls will do, quite literally, whatever it takes to make sure that doesn't happen. It's a very dark little movie, and the lead actresses really get their characters' desperation across. Very well done.

[b][u][color=white]REQUIEM FOR A DREAM[/color][/u][/b].

I saw this on TV last night, quite unintentionally. I'd heard many times that it was good, so I thought I'd give it a shot. Glad I did! It's a story about the different faces that can be put on drug addiction, and the downward spiral that is always associated with getting hooked on...well, whatever is the drug of choice. Jared Leto plays a young man who has a beautiful, aspiring-designer girlfriend (Jennifer Connolly), and a loyal best friend (I think it was Marlon Wayans). They need some quick money, so they start dealing drugs. Then they start testing the drugs. Then they're desperate to get their hands on drugs. And so on. Meanwhile, Leto's mother (played brilliantly by Ellen Burstyn) is trying to lose weight, and starts taking some diet pills her doctor prescribed. It's fascinating to watch the two different sides of drug addiction, and how differently the mother and son start out, but how similar their journies are.

It was riveting. I was disappointed when it was over. There were a couple of shocking, semi-graphic parts, but it was well worth the ride. If you can handle drug-related stuff, see it.