Gurlyndrobb
While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.
Kien Navarro
Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.
Tobias Burrows
It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.
Catharina_Sweden
I think this movie was quite good in parts, because it had atmosphere. Also, I could relate to the main character, Irene - a young woman who starts working in an isolated hotel. I was quite like her when I was young; well-behaved, nice and neat - yes, I even wore glasses! :-) - so I recognize the unpleasant situation, when you have to associate with fellow school- or work-mates that are of another kind. Stupid, vulgar, rude, not so well-brought up... I am sure you know what I mean. I also became lonely and left out in that kind of company, so I felt very sorry for Irene who had to both work and live with them! But the ending was a big disappointment. Nothing is explained. What happened to Irene? What happened to Eva, the former employee who had disappeared from the hotel..? Was it the witch, or was it a human killer..? What was that smell in Irene's (and formerly Eva's) room..? What was the point with the change of glasses..? Was the cross a protection, and did Irene's work-mate borrow it on one occasion, and steal it on another, out of malice..? Because she hoped for Irene to be killed without it..? Was she even an accomplice in the crime (IF there was a crime), in some way..? No questions are answered, and because of this I find the whole movie quite meaningless.
Sindre Kaspersen
Austrian screenwriter and director Jessica Hausner's second feature film which she wrote, premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at the 57th Cannes International Film Festival in 2004, was screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 29th Toronto International Film Festival in 2004 and is an Austrian-German co-production which was produced by Austrian director and producer Antonin Svoboda, producer Suzanne Marian, producer Philippe Bober and Austrian cinematographer and producer Martin Gschlacht. It tells the story about Irene, a young woman who arrives at a grand hotel in the Austrian Alps where she has been hired to work as a receptionist. Irene looks forward to getting started with her new job, but her perception of her position changes when she learns about the woman she has replaced who strangely disappeared. Irene tries to find out more about the woman by asking the other employees, but they ignore her and as time goes by she begins to wonder whether or not her life is in danger. Precisely and acutely directed by Austrian filmmaker Jessica Hausner, this brilliantly paced fictional tale which is narrated from the protagonist's point of view, draws a dense portrayal of a dutiful and sociable woman who begins to reconsider her line of work at a less crowded countryside hotel when she becomes aware of the enigmatic story about her predecessor. While notable for it's Gothic milieu depictions, sterling production design by production designer Katharina Wöpperman, cinematography by the director's frequent collaborator Martin Gschlacht, editing by Austrian film editor Karina Ressler and significant use of sound, this subtle and modestly romanticizing psychological thriller contains some fine use of music. This cryptic, profoundly mysterious and character-driven horror story where a remote hotel functions a one of the central characters, is impelled and reinforced by it's minimalistic and rigorously structured style of filmmaking, lurking tension, cogent narrative structure, esoteric characters, the efficiently understated acting performance by Austrian actress Franziska Weisz as the female protagonist and a good supporting acting performances by Austrian actress Birgit Minichmayr. A dark, nuanced and poignantly atmospheric mystery.
gaborforro
In this "movie" (I don't even think this can be called "movie") almost nothing happens - a girl is walking around and the camera just shows her from different angles - in the hotel, walking in the woods and etc. You expect something to happen (probably something creepy or frightening), but nothing happens till the very end...There is no any story too. This is below any standard - a dumb movie, trying to be strange by being unexpectedly boring...The only good thing - you will feel very clever after walking out, after seeing such a stupidity. It is also trying to imitate some Lynch style, showing red/green curtains and etc...but is far below anything watchable. I'm just wondering how someone can produce and others can release such crap...I can't believe there is a single man, that can enjoy it.
wkduffy
Before I buy a flick on DVD, I read reviews. First, I come here to IMDb to see what other viewers think. Then, I seek professional reviews to help me determine whether or not I should shell out $20.Had I listened (as I normally do) to these reviews, I wouldn't have gone anywhere near Hausner's "Hotel" and would've checked in at the Motel 6 down the block. It seems, across the board, the reviews of this film call it "technically adept, but dull," or they complain that "Nothing happens! There's no plot!" Indeed, I almost DID listen to these reviews, but something about the premise of "Hotel" intrigued me. So, I decided to buy it, and I just finished watching it ten minutes ago.Suffice to say, I feel inclined to come to the aid of this much maligned film. First, I agree with many reviewers about how the film is photographed. Without question, it is technically adept. The cinematography is precise and beautiful; carefully crafted (and often static) shots fill this flick, much like a Tarkovsky film. Colors are both vibrant and menacing--especially the void-like blacks (of the night forest) between the gray bark of the bare trees. Also the sterile greens and grays of the hotel interior. And don't forget the blood reds (of the front-desk-clerk's uniform) as she disappears into those horribly beckoning trees...Now onto the ubiquitous "nothing happens" complaint. The movie depends much more on atmosphere (and brilliantly so) than jump scares or plot turns. So if you are looking for big action, you will not find it in "Hotel." And (NEWS FLASH!) this is precisely the purpose of the film. Like many great films (and I'm not calling this great, just exceedingly well done and marginally upsetting--in a good way), this film does not tell the viewer what to think. In fact, most of time, it doesn't even show the viewer what happens. Imagine that! Indeed, this is where the IMAGINation of the viewer (if the viewer has ever practiced using his or her imagination) fills in the dreadfully empty gaps.The hinted-at story of the "forest witch" who used to live in the cave near the hotel (and the accompanying tales of vanishing hikers in the thick forest) is anything but fairytale-like. The cold, black crack in the mountain wall (the cave itself) seeps off the screen as it draws in the new young hotel desk clerk inch by inch. There's a lot of pathos here--the nervousness of beginning a new job for our protagonist; the impersonal darkness and dead-end corridors of the angular hotel; generally unfriendly and persnickety (even zombie-like) coworkers (one of which, in an understated dramatic moment, soullessly tells the protagonist to "Leave the hotel" and begins reciting the Rosary while mechanically cleaning a room); the suggestion of a "disappearance" (or perhaps, supernatural murder) of the previous desk clerk and everyone's unwillingness to discuss it. Yes, there's plenty of pathos.But a warning is in order: This is not "The Shining." Kubrick's great film had a lot of Big Wheel action and Nicholson's drooling and babbling. Hotel has neither. But to create its own sterile, haunting effect, "Hotel" doesn't need Redrum or Scatman Crothers.The clincher, however, is the ending of "Hotel." (Editorial: It reached valiantly for similar territory as the ending of Tarkovsky's "Solaris," in my opinion--"Hotel" didn't quite make it, but WOW!) Of course, I read many reviews that complained that "Nothing is explained" in the end. Whine, whine, whine! I guess ever since the "big-splashy-ending-that-explains-everything-in-a-surprise-twist" of "The Sixth Sense" and similar films, viewers are spoiled and need everything explained in a way that knocks their socks off. Well, my socks were absolutely knocked across the damn room, and at the same time NOTHING was reduced to a nugget-like explanation! I thought the abrupt, strange, pushed-off-a-cliff feeling invoked by director Hausner was PERFECT! It will stick with me for a while, and I recommend this film because of it.And to those of you who "want your money back" from this "boring" film, I suggest you relax. Stop watching movies with expectations of having your entire life (and the lives of those on screen) explained away into absolute nothingness. News Flash #2: You don't know everything; you can't know everything. In fact, you may know very little about ANYTHING. (Just like the protagonist in this film; she knows so little--even about herself--that she may in fact BE the dreaded witch who dispatched her predecessor--who knows?)You want REALLY SCARY? Here's a suggestion: Try existing in uncertainty. That's where "Hotel" lives. It's probably the scariest of all places to be.
