Feizal MANSOOR
The two other reviews of this movie, as I write this, both seem to have missed the director's vision. One of them is almost a diatribe and the other an apology. Neither do this sensitive, hand crafted movie justice. There maybe some technical problems with the editing, for example an unfortunate jerk in continuity early on when the protagonist moves from changing room to being upbraided by Management, but to me from the perspective of what the Director was trying to do and whether he did it, the movie was almost perfect. I don't understand the criticism of the music, the use of Debussy for example was, dare I say, lyrical? Each shot is thought out and framed beautifully. There is subtle complexity to the several story lines of ordinary human interaction each of them confirming in a precise way elemental humanity. Only a shrink-wrapped hedonist would call this porn. Metaphysical in content it is really a celebration of life as beauty. The tenderness of the final denouement is sublime and it most certainly is not in the sex.
Horst in Translation ([email protected])
"Hotel Desire" is a 40-minute German movie from 3.5 years ago. The film's director and writer is Sergej Moya, mostly an actor (and a pretty mediocre one) himself and this is his third and so far last effort as a filmmaker. The first 20 minutes of the movie we get introduced to the main character, her private and professional life. Her son leaves for France in order to spend some time with his dad. Next she goes to the hotel where she works as a maid and we also get to know her colleagues. These include known German actors Frederick Lau, Herbert Knaup and Palina Rojinski. However, the cast is just make-believe that this is an artistic movie. It is not. The whole direction and music reeks of pretense, but in the end everything this movie is memorable for is a very graphic sex scene between the main character and a hotel guest. (You could also guess this direction when you see the protagonist showering naked in the very first scene.) Of course, the fact that the guest is blind makes this something entirely different than porn, right? No it does not and the whole thing is as forgettable as the lesbian kiss included earlier in this movie as some sort of appetizer for what is about to come. The story is pretty uninteresting too. The maid makes all kinds of mistakes at her job and yet the only one who gets punished is the one who recognized these mistakes. And if this is not already enough, the main character decides to have sex with a hotel guest and smoke (which activates the fire alarm) afterward, all this after she got almost fired on several occasions. The whole smoke-rain metaphor is pretty cringeworthy. But it also makes this film a perfect example of an ambitious filmmaker who just does not have the talent to deliver what is on his mind. A failed attempt in terms of writing and directing for Moya and in terms of acting as well Can't say I'm surprised that Volm is not having much of a career right now. Not recommended.
jhking1939
First I should say that this review is being given by one who does not speak German, however I did not need to do so as you will presently understand. This movie was eventually marketed as a pornographic film which is a great pity. The acting, casting and cinematography are as good as I have ever seen. The directing is also first rate considering the limitations imposed by the money available, a paltry 60,000 Euros.In my opinion, this is a film that was meant to explore many facets of the central character and her life; excellently played by Volm. In the course of her day there are many possible avenues created for further plot development, but they all remain latent and unexplored for lack of money.Begging further work: the relationships with her fellow employees; her immediate boss who possibly feels paternal toward her, and another maid who makes a pass at her in their changing room. Then there is either a fashion shoot or perhaps a porno shoot in one of the rooms she is to clean and replenish. She's both titillated and amused by the happening, and they show more than a mild interest in her as well.Finally,the encounter with The Man, played by Schick. I don't want to say how it begins because it would spoil a delightful, if fanciful, seduction- and how this develops int the hottest sexual encounter I have ever seen in what ought to have been a full length movie. The movie is roughly 39 minutes long and the sexual encounter comprises roughly six minutes at the end. With only 60,000 Euros, they had to end it SOME way.
