In a dirty, cheap urban hotel, a man dies. Well, outside of it, to be more precise. He goes over the side of the roof. An FBI agent is sent in to investigate, and discover if it was a murder or suicide. We will find out before it ends, but it really isn't the focus(and don't expect a thriller, it isn't and never tries to be). This is not for everyone, and I won't claim I understood everything about it; I will explain what I did get. It holds a look at the "losers" in this environment, the "freaks". Sociology and the current state of relationships are important aspects of this. This is the only thing by Wenders that I've watched, and I don't know if this is a typical example of his work or not. Some have pointed out that there is no subtlety to the portrayal of the mentally ill(who all stay in this one dump as they cannot afford medical insurance), and one could call the characters irritating. They are "strange", and this doesn't shy away from that or downplay it. There are those that will hate it just for that. We have one who thinks he's in The Beatles(without it being acknowledged officially), and I suppose you either love or hate Tom. He's the happiest person in this, very naive, and he gets a huge crush on Eloise(something I can certainly sympathize with, as I got this purely for Milla, and she is cute in this in a role with not much dialog), and their romance is pretty impossible to resist, for its realism and how incredibly heartfelt it is(this film *really* gets to you). And the first thing we see is him leaping from the hotel, and the rest of this is narrated by him, "in retrospect". Gibson's performance is deadpan or tongue in cheek. He's one of the "names" in this. They tend to give great acting performances. The style very effectively builds an atmosphere; not everyone will enjoy it. This was thought up by Bono, and U2 do songs for it. There is a little sexuality, disturbing content and strong language in this. The DVD comes with two sets of good interviews, about the cast(with a running time of 27 and a half minutes) and the movie itself(14 minutes long), and a trailer. I recommend this to those open to a slightly different kind of picture, and a sad and genuine lovestory. 7/10
Review of The Million Dollar Hotel
