Century Hotel has one of the most inrtiguing plots ever turned into a movie. It is the story of the life of a hotel room. The film tells seven tales of events which have occured in room 720 over the course of almost 80 years. Century Hotel, a fictional hotel, was opened in 1921. A newlywed couple arrive on opening night on their honeymoon. In 1933, an oriental women is mysteriousl prepared for to meet her husband, waiting anxiously to start a new life in a strange place. After World War II ends, a couple re-unites in the room, that is to say, two couples, but three people. A man and his fiance, and the man's homosexual boyfriend, who's relationship is unbeknownst to the fiance. In 1953, a film noir nightmare takes place, invovling detectives, missing spouses, and money. Then, we visit the 1960s, where a prostitute finds true love with a client. Emerging in the 1980s, a reclusive rock star conducts an affair with the made. Finally, on the eve of the new millenium, two new age youths ren-dez-vous in the newly restored room.
The idea is brilliant, the film is well done. One of the strange things with the film is that it is very unconventionally put together. Unlike most episodic films, where each story occurs after a previous one, these seven tales are interspliced. You see a bit of one story, then a bit of the next, then the next, then go back to a previous one and see more, then go to another.
What really makes this film is the acting. The stellar standout is Lindy Booth, in two roles. She is fantastic. I didn't even know she was both characters until the credits at the end. And although all the stories are intriguing, the 1921 vignette is my favorite one.
A large Canadian production, Century Hotel will probably not be fully appreciated in the United States. However, if a Hollywood exec sees it, maybe they'll realize that it would make a perfect big budget american star studded extravaganza. If the haphazard editing would be changed into a more typical style, and some really big named stars come in to play the parts.