Century Hotel (2001)

A unique screenplay that yields surprising results!

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. November 25, 2007

Century Hotel the movie

Great movie to watch. You have to watch the whole thing form the beginning or you could get lost. David Hewlett was great. May 13, 2007

An interesting, quircky movie

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. February 11, 2007

Despite flaws and uneven quality, I found it enjoyable

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. May 29, 2005

Interesting idea with mixed results

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. August 21, 2003

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