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The Movie: Century Hotel A Review by Mark McLeod May 1st 2002 It's the eve of the new millennium and a young girl identified only as Super Girl (Lindy Booth) has checked into room 720 at the Century Hotel for a very special occasion. The hotel bell-man helps her to her room explaining along the way that the hotel had recently undergone some construction though not all the rooms were finished. After setting down her bags he also tells of the story of a pair of newly weds who were the room's very first guests. "Century Hotel" consists of seven different stories that follow the inhabitants of room 720 from the day the hotel opened up until now. The first story takes place in the 1920s with newly wed couple Sylvia (Lindy Booth) and George (Eugene Lipinski). George is a wealthy businessman and Sylvia is a troubled women who is obviously upset about the arranged marriage so she resorts to drugs and alcohol to achieve some sort of happiness. The 1930s find the room home to a Chinese mail order bride (Sandrine Holt) and an employee of her husband who has been charged with the responsibility of looking after her until the ceremony. The third story takes place in the 1940s where a man (Joel Bissonnette) returns home to the war and reunites with his best friend Michael (David Hewlett) and Beth (Janet Kidder) the love of his life. The 50's tale is that of Sebastian (Colm Feore) whose come to the hotel in search of his wife Eliose (Michelle Nolden). When he begins to receive threatening phone calls he befriends the local hotel private eye (Earl Pastko). The 60's finds the room rented out to Damon (Raine Maida) a reclusive and agoraphobic musician who refuses to leave his room and whose only personal contact with the outside world comes through Mary (Chantal Kreviazuk) the recently hired maid. The next story skips ahead two decades to take place throughout the 1980s where Nicholas (Tom McCamus) a business man befriends Dominique (Mia Kirshner) an escort and has yearly meetings in the hotel room. Finally we come full circle back to 1999 where Super Girl awaits her guest. "Century Hotel" is the feature length directorial debut of Canadian David Weaver. Weaver who previously directed the shorts "Moon Palace", "No Mystery" and "A Boy's Own Story" makes an ambitious choice for his first feature length film. "Century Hotel" is an interesting film in that it takes place solely in one location throughout the film and chooses to focus more on the surroundings then the characters. It's start off normally but before you know it multiple stories and characters are introduced and the film is jumping from decade to decade in no real apparent order. Each story has a different visual style to it ranging from very static and simple imagery to images of lush beauty. This is helpful to viewers because the film does jump from story to story in rapid succession. If the style of the visuals had remained the same throughout then the film would not have worked as well as the stories would blend into each other causing them to lose their individuality. The best thing about the film is it's unique story concept and structure which is one of the things that initially attracted me to the film. To take a number of characters and stories and put them together of the course of a lengthy period in one simple location shows a creative and daring side of David Weaver. The concept of telling a story in one location is nothing new nor is the idea of telling multiple stories in one film however the meshing of the two elements is something that isn't all that common. As much as I like the ideas and approach Weaver takes I do have a few reservations about how well it was executed. The film runs 97 minutes and while that is an acceptable running time for one story when you are trying to tell seven the limitations of the amount of time shine through. Characters are undeveloped and some of the stories don't seem to progress to their natural conclusions. The method of intercutting between the stories is also problematic as whenever the action picks up Weaver cuts away to another story. This would be fine if he were juggling three or four stories but with seven stories it's often up to 10-15 minutes before he makes a return visit.. As a result of this a lot of the momentum is lost and at times things become hard to follow. I'm not saying that drastic changes need to be made in the stories or structure just the editing technique used is a tad jarring. The film's cast reads like a who's who of Canadian talent including stars of both the stage and screen. Long established actors including actors Colm Feore, Mia Kirshner, musicians Raine Maida (Our Lady Peace) and Chantal Kreviezuk and hot newcomer Lindy Booth are just part of the 20 actors and actresses who make up the ensemble cast. Given the sheer number of actors and actresses I'm only going to focus on the standouts in this review. Lindy Booth (The Skulls 2) is the film's strongest link appearing in two different roles. In the 1920's she plays Sylvia a women who marries for money and not love and in the 1990's she's Super Girl a down and out raver whose plans for the new year involve a friend she's only talked to online. I'm not sure what it is about Lindy but she just has a presence that illuminates the room whenever she's on screen. I've seen a number of stronger performances from actresses her age but this 18 year Ontario native is someone I'm going to keep my eye on. Also turning in another stellar performance is Mia Kirshner who is probably best known internationally from "The Crow : City of Angels" and most recently starred in "Not Another Teen Movie" where she nailed the role of the cruelest girl in school. Here she plays Dominique a hooker in the 1980s segment of the film. Dominique starts off all cold before eventually warming up during her annual meetings with the same John. Kirshner makes this seem all the more convincing with her facial expressions. This is certainly one of Mia's better performances and makes me forget entirely that she was in the terrible "New Best Friend" which lasted exactly one week in local theaters. In terms of the males one of the stronger performances comes from Tom McCamus who plays Nicholas the john who meets up with Mia's Dominique each year during the 80s. He too shows an excellent range as his character changes over the years from a worried married man to someone with not a worry in the world. McCamus is a veteran of over 20 projects in Canada yet is unknown south of the border. Hopefully he'll take on a role in a prominent Canadian film that hits it big so that American's can see what they are missing. Colm Feore also gives an excellent performance as a college professor who checks into the hotel to find his wife who ran off without explanation. Feore is another Canadian actor that is well known in this country but as much in the US. Feore unlike McCamus has appeared in a number of US productions and will next be seen in "The Sum of All Fears" alongside Ben Affleck and Morgan Freeman. From that same story we get Earl Pastko's surreal detective character that is one of the best written characters in the whole film. Pastko mostly performs on stage in Canadian stage productions but has done same film and TV work. Also worth mentioning are the acting debuts of husband and wife musicians Raine Madia and Chantal Krevizuk. While it's clear that this is their first acting work there a small ray of talent shines through. I don't know if they plan to continue acting but I've seen a lot worse performances from musicians turned actors. In summation "Century Hotel" has one of the most interesting premises I've seen of late in a film though somewhere between the concept and execution stage something got muddled. Director David Weaver knows exactly what he wants to do with the material but has decided to bite off more then he can chew. Seven stories different stories in just over 90 minutes is a little too much for this viewer to handle. If the film was edited differently and the stories were allowed to play out on their own as opposed to the constant intercutting of the film then things would have been much better. As it stands "Century Hotel" is a fresh and interesting debut feature that has enough substance and style to thrill and chill audience but doesn't quite manage to live up to it's potential. I'm still recommending "Century Hotel" for the number of things it does right but I still think more can and should have been done with the material. It certainly could have used another 15 or 20 minutes to explore the stories. Movie Rating : 7.5/10 The DVD VIDEO: TVA International, the same studio responsible for the Canadian SE's of "Ginger Snaps" and "Gangster No 1" presents "Century Hotel" with a 1.85:1 widescreen transfer. However unlike the previously mentioned discs this transfer is not enhanced for anamorphic displays. Although this will come as a disappointment to fans of the film with widescreen televisions once you get past this you'll find that TVA has done another great job on this release. One of the first things I noticed when watching "Century Hotel" was the different visual styles used to differentiate the story lines in the film. All the different visual styles are presented nicely on this DVD. The transfer has a consistent and sharp look to it and never really strays from that throughout the film. Some of the stories appear softer then others but the image doesn't dip below an acceptable level of sharpness. Black level is strong and matches up nicely with the letterboxed bars. The use of color in the film really depends on which time period is on screen. One story is presented with a heavily filtered blue tinge to it whereas another has a more film noir look going and yet another has a rich tapestry of color with more extravagant hues. Flesh tones appear natural though due to the stylized visuals it's often difficult to gage whether or not this is the case. In terms of problems they are few and far between with only a few moderately annoying print marks and some minor shimmering on an old style radio. I consider the shimmering to the biggest problem as it seems to occur every time the radio appears on camera which is a total of between 5 and 10 times. The film makes use of subtitles in one scene and these appear as white text inside the image in an easy to read font. It would have been nice if the font size was slightly larger but that's just a minor nitpick. Overall this is a very nice transfer that despite it's lack of anamorphic enhancement and a few minor problems earns a high recommendation. Video Rating : 8.5/10 SOUND "Century Hotel" is presented by TVA International in Dolby Digital 5.1 and given the nature of the production and budget considerations sounds surprisingly good on this DVD. While there's no confusing this for that of a big budget action blockbuster the elements are presented quite nicely. "Century Hotel" is a dialogue driven drama but while some similar features tend to fold up into the center channel this mix for the most part manages to avoid doing just that. The musical score by Ron Sures is the most dominant component of the audio experience and it's haunting melodies come through the front and on occasion the rear speakers with a nice and warm presence. The use of sound effects is limited throughout the film but when used they sound very realistic. This is especially true for a number of knocks on the hotel room door. Dialogue is presented at a reasonable level and is never overshadowed by the musical score. It does branch out of the center channel from time to time to take a more haunting approach. In the bass department there is an acceptable amount of subwoofer use in the film but nothing that's going to wake up the neighbors. Although this won't become anyone's new demo material it's does more with the material then I expected and that's never a bad thing. Also included is a Dolby Digital 2.0 track for those without 5.1 receivers. Audio Rating : 8/10 EXTRAS:TVA International the studio behind the massive Special Edition of "Ginger Snaps" gives "Century Hotel" the royal treatment for this DVD release. Although it's not as jam packed as the 'Snaps' SE there is still quite a bit in the bonus materials section of this disc. You can find all the goodies under the "Concierge" section of the disc. Kicking off the disc we have the feature length audio commentary with David Weaver (co-writer/director), Bridget Newson (co-writer), David Greene (cinematographer) and Victoria Hirst (producer). The four contribute an informative audio commentary detailing almost every aspect of the film imaginable. "Century Hotel" was shot on the shoestring budget of $750,000 Canadian over 20 days in a studio in downtown Toronto. They talk about the casting process, the writing process, the visual style of the film and everything in between. There are hardly any breaks in the action as the participants talk almost non-stop. Writer/director David Weaver contributes the most to the track and on many occasions shows his interest and love for the project. He knows it's not perfect but he's happy with the final product. This is another interesting listen that's exciting for the casual fan as well as diehard commentary buffs. After the commentary track the most noteworthy feature is director David Weaver's short film "Moon Palace". Running a little under 25 minutes it's the story of Tyler (Chad E Donella) an out of work writer who finds himself taking a mysterious job at a new Chinese Restaurant named "The Moon Palace". This just isn't any restaurant however as the owner (Henry Chan) employs Tyler to spy on the clientele and write the fortunes for their fortune cookies based on their dinner conversations. He's good at what he does but there is something unsettling about the job. From night to night there is one mysterious women (Michelle Nolden) who tries to get into the semi-exclusive establishment. Tyler begins to fall for the women but what the future holds for them he's uncertain. The film is presented letterboxed at 1.85:1 and with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound The menu option labelled "Featurette" is a 7 minute look behind the scenes at the making of "Century Hotel". The featurette doesn't go into a great amount of detail though clips from the film are kept to a minimum. The majority of the making of consists of interviews with actors and actresses including Lindy Booth (The Skulls 2) , Mia Kirshner (Not Another Teen Movie, New Best Friend), Colm Feore (Titus, upcoming The Sum of All Fears), musicians turned actors Raine Maida (Our Lady Peace) and Chantal Kreviazuk and the creative talent behind the film co-writer David Weaver, producer Linda Hurst and writer Bridget Newson. The interviews are all pretty similar in that the participants talk about their love of the film's concept. Some on-location footage is also included though the interviews clearly make up the bulk of this program. I would have liked to learn more about the process of shooting the film but this is a good start and it would have been interesting to see where this piece would have gone had it been longer. Also in keeping with the film's hotel theme TVA offers up an interesting name for the otherwise routine Cast and Crew biographies. "Guest Register" is where you can find the cast bios while "Hotel Staff" is where the crew biographies are located. Lastly we have the film's excellent theatrical trailer presented Full-Frame with Dolby Digital 2.0 audio. Extras Rating : 8/10 Final Thoughts: "Century Hotel" is a film that I had high expectations for after hearing nothing but positive comments from one of my most trusted movie loving friends. I was a bit disappointed with the final film but there is still plenty to like with it's strong performances, an interesting story line and excellent visuals. TVA International's DVD offers an a top notch non anamorphic transfer, a good Dolby Digital 5.1 audio mix and a handful of interesting extras. If your a fan of anyone in the cast or of innovative and unique cinema then there's no reason not to pick this one up. TVA International has done another excellent job on this Canadian exclusive release. Disc Rating : 8/10 Note : This is a Canadian exclusive release by TVA International. It can be ordered online at Videoflicks.com or any other Canadian etailer. |