I already had my eye out for Kitty Green’s “The Royal Hotel,” which will screen at Telluride and Toronto next month. Green directed 2020’s “The Assistant,” a thoroughly fascinating and minimalist depiction of Harvey Weinstein’s junior assistant.
Last year, Neon snapped up North American rights to “The Royal Hotel”. Actress Julia Garner again teams-up with Green for this one, which also stars Hugo Weaving and Jessica Henwick. It’s an Aussie-American distribution that might make waves when it screens.
The film test-screened last night in L.A. Here are some thoughts, mostly revolving around what people believed to be a very strong movie with a bad ending:
“Super well-directed, Green is very talented. The intensity and sense of menace is always present and never laid on too thick. It switches back really well between lively/fun and uncomfortable/scary. Lots of people seemed unhappy in the theater about the ending. It's extremely good until it isn't. There's a perfect ending 60 seconds before the actual final shot. This one also definitely seems like a shot towards more mainstream filmmaking than “The Assistant”. I have to add that it opens with a club scene — NEON special. Overall: Solid movie, bad ending.”
Inspired by true events, “The Royal Hotel” follows best friends Hanna (Garner) and Liv (Henwick), backpackers in Australia who run out of money. Still looking for an adventure, they decide to take a temporary live-in job behind the bar of a pub called “The Royal Hotel” in a remote Outback mining town.
Things start getting dicey when bar owner Billy (Weaving) and a host of locals start crossing the line with their jokes and behavior. Soon Hanna and Liv find themselves trapped in an unnerving situation that grows rapidly out of their control.
There is no release date set for “The Royal Hotel,” but if it manages to make a splash at the fall film fests then it could certainly be in theaters before the year is done. Watch out for this one.