VIFF 2023 | Movie Review: "The Royal Hotel"; A Feminist Tale of Harrowing Proportions
10/12 ForReel Score | 4/5 Stars
There are few things scarier in cinema than when a writer manoeuvres a young female character in an isolated location steeped in peril. Whether it's a remote country house with a family of cannibals, a broken down RV in the hills, or in the case of Kitty Green's new thriller The Royal Hotel, the most dangerous place a young woman could end up: a remote town full of horny, entitled men.
Jessica Henwick and Julia Garner star as Liv and Hanna, two American backpackers on an extended vacation in Australia. It's unclear how long they've been travelling, but they are out of money and going home, it seems, is not an option. They take a job via a work placement program for travellers at a dilapidated bar in the middle of the outback, in a town that isn't even on the map but is near a series of mines.
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Their first night on the job establishes the stakes while cleverly subverting at least a few expectations. The bar is run down, but it isn't a ruin. The women Liv and Hanna are there to replace aren't missing, injured, or even afraid - they're actively enjoying the crowd of men they've come to know in their time there. A few of the things they say might be suspect ("Make sure that one pays you", says one, with what transaction she's referring to being specific but not stated), but neither seem to regret their time there. Still, the threat is there immediately: it's a room full of drunk, horny, entitled men.
The crowd has a distinct vibe that doesn't always feel outright hostile but always feels primed to explode into violence and has never heard of the idea of #MeToo or even the most basic concepts of feminism. Bar owner Billy (Hugo Weaving) might be the least dangerous of the lot, but he's still a patronizing alcoholic who openly calls Liv and Hanna c-words. Weaving is excellent as a man who seems to understand the peril but can't afford to ban anyone from the bar - to actually do anything about it - because he's drinking all his profits. His partner Carol, the also excellent Ursula Yovich, is at her wit's end, but while she can cool off a room for the women, she is powerless to do much about Billy's bad habits.
So Liv and Hanna are left to fend for themselves among these horrible men. Three stand out: Matty (Toby Wallace, Finestkind), the fun one who wants to be friends but also wants to get Hanna into bed. Teeth (James Frecheville), the slow one who thinks he's being chivalrous by sitting at the bar and waiting for Liv to look his way, and Dolly (Daniel Henshall), who transitions from inappropriately intense to psychopath as soon as the previous women leave. Each is good, and although they are each a different type of man, they all capture that undercurrent of anger and potential for violence.
Henwick's Liv has a murky past she's running away from, though the film never shows it. Green and co-writer Oscar Redding recognize that while it's essential for her character to be running, what she's running from doesn't matter because that context makes her ongoing choices in the movie relatable. Liv is, to put it mildly, a bad friend. Her credit card maxing out lands them in their predicament, and she is constantly excusing the leery behaviour around her and minimizing her friends' feelings about what's going on. Ultimately, the film belongs to Garner, whose Hanna is smart enough to know that they are in danger but loyal and strong enough to understand that if she doesn't stick around, her friend will likely be exploited, brutalized, or worse. It's a performance that requires her to be all these things simultaneously, and she pulls it off masterfully.
The Royal Hotel is a masterclass in tension building. Green placing these characters in an inescapable place is one thing, but she is also intelligent enough to know that the scariest thing she could do is let these men be the men they are. Green lets these women marinate in the tension of knowing any one of them could snap at any moment and that just existing in that place they are in is all it takes to make that a reality. The script is sharp enough to clarify that these men existing in isolation are not behaving in some outlandish way from societal norms, either. The Royal Hotel is a reflection of the world that we all live in and one that proves we have a long way to go when it comes to our ingrained societal misogyny.
Acting and Casting - 2 | Visual Effects and Editing - 2 | Story and Message - 2 | Entertainment Value - 1 | Music Score and Soundtrack - 1 | Reviewer's Preference - 2 | What does this mean?