THE MILLION DOLLAR HOTEL

Germany/US, 1999, 121 minutes, Colour.
Jeremy Davies, Mila Jovovich, Mel Gibson, Jimmy Smits, Peter Stormare, Amanda Plummer, Bud Cort, Julian Sands, Tim Roth, Gloria Stewart.
Directed by Wim Wenders.

Million Dollar Hotel is a strange and exotic piece of cinema. It is the work of German director Wim Wenders. Wenders emerged in the 70s in Germany with many striking films including King of the Road as well as the version of Patricia Highsmith's Ripley story, The American Friend, with Dennis Hopper.

During the 80s and 90s, Wenders continued to make films in Germany, especially what is considered his masterpiece, Wings of Desire and its 90s sequel, Far Away So Close. He also went to the United States, especially with the backing of Francis Ford Coppola and made a film about Hammett with Frederic Forrest. He made a number of films in the United States, including The End of Violence. He also went international with his again, exotic piece, To the End of the World.

Wenders also moved into the documentary area, especially with The Buena Vista Social Club and his films about the American Blues.

With Million Dollar Hotel, he had the financial backing of Mel Gibson's company, Icon. Mel Gibson appears as a very strange FBI agent, always in a brace, interrogating people about a death in a very seedy hotel in Los Angeles. The irony of the Million Dollar Hotel is that it is inhabited by a range of people with mental problems. It is not the death that is the focus of the film but rather a young man, played very well by Jeremy Davies, who sometimes capitalises on his mental impairment. He is infatuated with a young woman, Mila Jovovich, who is equally enigmatic. Other members in the hotel include Peter Stormare who thinks he is John Lennon, Gloria Stewart, Amanda Plummer.

The film has a lot of existential dialogue - which would be off-putting for those who are looking to see Mel Gibson in a murder investigation. It is of interest for those who are fans of Wenders, his verbal and visual explorations of the human condition. While the film won several awards, it was, as might be expected, not a box office success. The story was contributed by Bono, who also supplies the musical score.
1. The impact of the film? Too enigmatic for the popular audience? For fans of Wim Wenders, German cinema, existential cinema?

2. The work of Wim Wenders, his European sensibilities, working in the United States? A satisfactory combination or not?

3. Los Angeles, the exteriors of the hotel, the interiors, the roof? The city as a character? The musical score, Bono's songs, the Beatles' songs?

4. Suicide, murder, detection? An existential reflection on the situation?

5. The structure and framework: Tom Tom and his voice-over, his mental state, his perspective, the meaning of life, the meaning of death, his running to jump from the building, his falling, his memory of the two weeks, the focus on Eloise, his reflection on life before he hit the ground?

6. The residents, the strong cast, their particular eccentricities, madness, individually, together? Life in the hotel, the hotel as a microcosm? The death of Izzy? The questioning of Geronimo, his sharing the room with Izzy, the arrest? The importance of the tar paintings, people assuming that Izzy did them, really done by Geronimo? The art dealer, his melodramatic and histrionic explanation of the paintings, his like and dislike, their value? The plan for the sales and the benefiting of the residents? Their joining in the deceit about who did the paintings? Agent Skinner and his entering into this world?

7. Mel Gibson's performance as Skinner, his appearance, wearing the brace, his phone connection, talking with his fiancee and the plan to meet her? The FBI background, his manner, the parody of police? His assistants and his working with them, their collaboration? The interrogations, his bluntness, his theories? With Izzy's father, the discussions in the car, his promises to find the truth? His picking on Tom Tom, his seeing Tom Tom's attraction to Eloise, the pressure on Eloise, making her wear the aural and visual bug? His physiotherapy, listening? His meal with Tom Tom, cajoling him into revealing the truth? Geronimo, his target? The irony of Tom Tom's confession on the video and his disregard of it, the clash? The irony that Tom Tom actually did kill Izzy? The other authorities, their accepting the video, Skinner and his sticking to his theories? An odd portrait of an agent?

8. Tom Tom, his life in the hotel, naïve and innocent, his room, his friendship with Geronimo? The pressure from Dixie and Rachel? Izzy, his friendship? His infatuation with Eloise, watching her, following her? Her coming to his room, their long discussions, the sexual experience? The meal with Skinner, his playing games with Skinner, the confession on the video to help the group act for the paintings? The reality of his pushing Izzy? His decision to jump off the building?

9. Izzy, his rich background, his dominant father and the pressure on the police? The art, drugs, friendship with Geronimo, the assumption that he did the paintings? The flashback and his discussions with Tom Tom, understanding him, his death?

10. Eloise, ethereal, the comment that she was not really there? Her reading, going to the bookshops? The interrogation by Skinner, his pressures that she find out the truth from Tom Tom, her succumbing, going to his room, listening to him, the bond between the two, sharing the time, love, sexuality? Her seeing him die?

11. Dixie, his thinking he was John Lennon, the playing and singing, conniving with Rachel? Rachel and her stridency, the plans and the pressures?

12. Geronimo, claiming to be an Indian, actually Hispanic? The arrest, his wanting to claim the art? The tar paintings? His going to prison - and his release?

13. Jessica, the old woman, rough, part of the plan?

14. The manager, trying to conceal things from Skinner, his succumbing, organising the group?

15. The art dealer, his speech, his roundabout manner, supercilious and superior?

16. The cumulative effect of this experience of the residents of the million dollar hotel, the death, the investigation? Insight into human nature?