Bypassing all of the generic action flicks, skipping all of those boring predictable romantic comedies, there’s so many movies that never get watched because they aren’t financed well enough. Movies like Y Tu Mama Tambien, a Spanish movie that is perhaps the best coming-of-age tale ever. Or take El Mariachi, Robert Rodriguez’s very first film, and the first of his Mexico trilogy. Both of these were amazingly well-written movies, but since it wasn’t backed by a large company, it had to go the independent route. That’s why it’s a good thing that so many people think the same things I do, because otherwise there would be no Sundance Film Festival.
Summary
One of those movies that kind of flew under the radar, so to speak, is Hotel Sorrento. Adapted from the play by Hannie Rayson, the movie takes the original story and ideas from the script but then branches off into director Richard Franklin’s direction and he runs with it, creating a movie that’s both reflective and poignant. It starts off with one of three sisters, Meg, writing a fictional book about her two sisters and their past. When they all return home, except for the oldest sister, Hillary, who had never left Australia, Hotel Sorrento begins to build up momentum in its insightful thoughts on how the country has changed.
Sounds Like Clerks
Hotel Sorrento reminds me of another great underappreciated movie with lots of pretentious dialogue, and that is Kevin Smith’s Clerks. While Clerks never discussed American past and present and how the country had changed, it instead took a deep dive inside the human soul and showed how a man in his twenties can feel underwhelmed by the world that he has in front of him. Hotel Sorrento, like Clerks, combines the emotional lives of the characters with long, drawn-out discussions that, if not directly, somehow relate to politics or philosophy.
Critical Acclaim
Critics seemed to appreciate Hotel Sorrento, while it was not a big hitter at the box office most of its patrons thought it was a nice movie. However, the biggest criticism by far was the fact that director Richard Franklin strayed too far from the play’s constraints. People complained that it wasn’t as good as the play, but most people who hadn’t ever seen the live action version prefer this Hotel Sorrento over the other. Maybe it’s a difference of taste, maybe it’s because whichever version the critic saw first will always be better, because that’s when it was original. It’s funny how when a movie based on a book comes out, all the readers will like the book better, but when someone who saw the movie first goes and reads the book, usually that person will like the movie better.
Hotel Sorrento: The Movie
