This film had some interesting elements, but the sum total was a bit of a mess.
First, they were clearly going for an atmospheric supernatural vibe, which made for a very dark and oppressive feel. This is definitely a movie that relied too heavily on dim lighting in order to establish the mood.
Second, while the location was gorgeous it was incongruous with the actual story. You're supposed to believe this is set in a small town where everyone knows everyone, yet everything takes place in an enormous, ultra plush, and thriving hotel. Sorry, those two concepts really did not gel as presented.
Third, this film leaned into metaphors, HARD. Symbolism can build intrigue if it is thoughtfully paired with a story, but this film feels like a lot of stuff and nonsense was thrown in exclusively to pad the runtime.
Fourth, there is no real resolution to this film. The makers wove a lot of potential threads together, but then just left them dangling at the end. Some concepts popped to merely blink out of relevance, others seems attached to the main plot, but then went nowhere, and the overarching plot points were never resolved in any meaningful way.
This film is worse than one that leaves you with unanswered questions because when it ends you don't even have fully formed questions.
Giving credit where credit is do, there are some beautiful shots in this film that offer visual interest, despite the rather drab lighting.
Alas, this film fails because it invested far too much in setting up scenes and not enough in developing a cogent story.
Ultimately watching this is like driving around in a car for a really long time, only to discover you've ended up somewhere you could have walked to faster.
First, they were clearly going for an atmospheric supernatural vibe, which made for a very dark and oppressive feel. This is definitely a movie that relied too heavily on dim lighting in order to establish the mood.
Second, while the location was gorgeous it was incongruous with the actual story. You're supposed to believe this is set in a small town where everyone knows everyone, yet everything takes place in an enormous, ultra plush, and thriving hotel. Sorry, those two concepts really did not gel as presented.
Third, this film leaned into metaphors, HARD. Symbolism can build intrigue if it is thoughtfully paired with a story, but this film feels like a lot of stuff and nonsense was thrown in exclusively to pad the runtime.
Fourth, there is no real resolution to this film. The makers wove a lot of potential threads together, but then just left them dangling at the end. Some concepts popped to merely blink out of relevance, others seems attached to the main plot, but then went nowhere, and the overarching plot points were never resolved in any meaningful way.
This film is worse than one that leaves you with unanswered questions because when it ends you don't even have fully formed questions.
Giving credit where credit is do, there are some beautiful shots in this film that offer visual interest, despite the rather drab lighting.
Alas, this film fails because it invested far too much in setting up scenes and not enough in developing a cogent story.
Ultimately watching this is like driving around in a car for a really long time, only to discover you've ended up somewhere you could have walked to faster.