Customer Reviews

Century Hotel

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Century Hotel has one of the most inrtiguing plots ever turned into a movie. It is the story of the life of a hotel room. The film tells seven tales of events which have occured in room 720 over the course of almost 80 years. Century Hotel, a fictional hotel, was opened in 1921. A newlywed couple arrive on opening night on their honeymoon. In 1933, an oriental women is mysteriousl prepared for to meet her husband, waiting anxiously to start a new life in a strange place. After World War II ends, a couple re-unites in the room, that is to say, two couples, but three people. A man and his fiance, and the man's homosexual boyfriend, who's relationship is unbeknownst to the fiance. In 1953, a film noir nightmare takes place, invovling detectives, missing spouses, and money. Then, we visit the 1960s, where a prostitute finds true love with a client. Emerging in the 1980s, a reclusive rock star conducts an affair with the made. Finally, on the eve of the new millenium, two new age youths ren-dez-vous in the newly restored room.

The idea is brilliant, the film is well done. One of the strange things with the film is that it is very unconventionally put together. Unlike most episodic films, where each story occurs after a previous one, these seven tales are interspliced. You see a bit of one story, then a bit of the next, then the next, then go back to a previous one and see more, then go to another.

What really makes this film is the acting. The stellar standout is Lindy Booth, in two roles. She is fantastic. I didn't even know she was both characters until the credits at the end. And although all the stories are intriguing, the 1921 vignette is my favorite one.

A large Canadian production, Century Hotel will probably not be fully appreciated in the United States. However, if a Hollywood exec sees it, maybe they'll realize that it would make a perfect big budget american star studded extravaganza. If the haphazard editing would be changed into a more typical style, and some really big named stars come in to play the parts.

While I will admit that my true reason for watching Century Hotel was that I am a diehard Our Lady Peace fan, and frontman Raine Maida stars along side his wife Chantel Kreviazuk in the 70's scene, I was nothing less than amazed by this movie. The plot was nothing less than captivating, although the dvd was an hour and a half long, I felt as if I had only been watching for half an hour. The way the stories of the different decades intertwine with one another is beautiful, and definately leaves you waiting in anticipation for the next time each decade comes into focus. Each decade is different yet the characters all seem to be after the same things, love and inner peace. Although you only see each of them for a short time, it is very easy to relate to each of the characters in Century Hotel, regardless of the decade the scene takes place in. My only complaint about this movie isn't even in the movie itself, but rather in the Character bio feature of the DVD, whoever did the writeups has the years wrong on the release of Clumsy...1997, not 1999 as well as some other small errors, but like I said that has nothing to do with the movie. Century Hotel was beautifully made, the acting was amazing and I definately recommend this movie!

Great movie to watch. You have to watch the whole thing form the beginning or you could get lost. David Hewlett was great.

This 2001 Canadian art film is composed of several short stories which all take place in the same hotel room over the last century. Century Hotel is a low budget film and a good platform for aspiring actors, most of whom were unknown to me with the exception of Mia Kushner who I recognize as the character who plays Jenny on "The L Word".

Some of the stories work. Some don't. And the quality of the acting is mixed. The stories are not interrelated but yet we see them in pieces which make the concept rather interesting. Also, the many romantic scenes all display an abundance of flesh and there are many surprises in the twists and turns of the plots. There are definitely flaws in the production however and some of the stories are quite unbelievable.

I can't help it though. I enjoyed this film immensely and couldn't stop watching. I therefore give it a mild recommendation just because it held my interest.

I feel like this plot has been done before - vignettes about the various occupants of a single hotel room - but I was still intrigued by this movie. The setting is a hotel in a cosmopolitan Canadian city. The stories - set in 1921, 1933, 1945, 1953, 1968, the late '80s to early '90s, and the turn of the millennium - do not follow each other in chronological order but are broken into short scenes and jumbled together in a creative if sometimes confusing (especially early on) manner.
As the box cover says, there are four lost souls, three love stories and one murder, the murder being part of one of the love stories. Some characters are easier to sympathize with than others. I really felt drawn to the sad Asian woman in an arranged marriage in the Depression era. I also rooted for the eccentric cuckold seeking his wife with the aid of a hotel detective in the noirish '50s story.
Mia Kirshner is sweetly seductive as the prostitute who agrees to annual liaisons with a besotted customer. Unlike the other stories, this piece allows for a passage of time within the story as we see the two meet for brief occasions over the next few years.
Other characters left me cold, like the two gay war veterans who betray one's fiance to satisfy their own sexual urges. Then there are the two millennial youths planning what turns out to be a suicide pact. The girl in this case was selfish and dishonest, yet the ending is supposed to be some magical completion of a circle. It was an unsatisfying ending.

Although a couple of the many stories (perhaps too many?) seem slight, the film on the whole is well done. But prospective purchasors should NOT be thinking in terms of comedies like PLAZA SUITE which have used this same hotel room "set-up." For the most part, this is a real downer and not for those who are looking for laughs.

The segment about the two gay guys - the reason I bought the movie - was especially heartbreaking. There were no winners in that story: certainly not the 2 closeted lovers who THOUGHT they could pull the wool over the collective eyes of their small hometown AND over the eyes of the "naive" fiance of the one who had just returned from World War 2. However, I doubt the self-jilted bride-to-be thought of herself as "winning" either even as she outed them to the house detective. This is probably a fairly accurate depiction of the "Scylla and Charybdis" plight of gay soldiers returning from WW2: a loveless cover marriage on one hand or constant fear of exposure and arrest on the other. A sad story.

This movie I saw back at least 5 years ago. I was enthrolled by the plot line and I've seen the movie at least 6 times. The way that all stories end up looping back to one another and makes the story whole. There were many amazing performances within this film and I recommend it to anyone who likes to figure out the plot line before it happens.

You may think that you have seen this screenplay before;one hotel room with different people occupying it at different times...but you haven't!

The genius in this Canadian Indie is in the precise manner in which each of these vignettes is started,stopped and then resumed.Room 720 is the room of a Cosmopolitan Hotel that has had several different things occur in it from 1921 to 2000.Seven distinct stories are told and each starts,gives a little info,and then flits to another time period and different characters.The fact that each of these tales are completely resolved is a testimony to director and script writer David Weaver who pulls it off!Each story is unique and quite involving.The characters and the emotional force of each are surprisingly well defined in such a small space of time.4.5 stars.For those who love unique,one-of-a-kind films,do not bypass this one.

Century Hotel is a movie about a hotel room, and seven stories about the people who have stayed in Room 720 over nearly a century. The writers and director made conscious decisions about the cinematic styles for each era, and even though none of the stories was very long by necessity, they brought the moment into the light and gave you enough for you to hang your imagination on. They went for edgy and succeeded in some ways with stories about love, betrayal, beginnings and endings. The stories are told through the characters' actions and dialog, and you're allowed to draw your own conclusions about what went on after.

I liked Century Hotel, it was a fine freshman effort that came in under $750,000. The DVD is nicely done, with a commentary track that is a tiny bit pretentious, but overall they do have a few things to say about the film. The short "Moon Palace" was worth the cost of the DVD.

I feel like this plot has been done before - vignettes about the various occupants of a single hotel room - but I was still intrigued by this movie. The setting is a hotel in a cosmopolitan Canadian city. The stories - set in 1921, 1933, 1945, 1953, 1968, the late '80s to early '90s, and the turn of the millennium - do not follow each other in chronological order but are broken into short scenes and jumbled together in a creative if sometimes confusing (especially early on) manner.
As the box cover says, there are four lost souls, three love stories and one murder, the murder being part of one of the love stories. Some characters are easier to sympathize with than others. I really felt drawn to the sad Asian woman in an arranged marriage in the Depression era. I also rooted for the eccentric cuckold seeking his wife with the aid of a hotel detective in the noirish '50s story.
Mia Kirshner is sweetly seductive as the prostitute who agrees to annual liaisons with a besotted customer. Unlike the other stories, this piece allows for a passage of time within the story as we see the two meet for brief occasions over the next few years.
Other characters left me cold, like the two gay war veterans who betray one's fiance to satisfy their own sexual urges. Then there are the two millennial youths planning what turns out to be a suicide pact. The girl in this case was selfish and dishonest, yet the ending is supposed to be some magical completion of a circle. It was an unsatisfying ending.