The Hotel Venus (2004)
"Hoteru bînasu" (original title)

In a strange alienated world there is a secret hotel in a shabby diner called the Venus Café, harboring some unusual people where compelling secrets lie in each resident's heart. Torturing ... See full summary »

Director:

Hideta Takahata

Writer:

Tetsurou Asou

Stars:

Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, Miki Nakatani, Teruyuki Kagawa

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tsuyoshi Kusanagi	...	Chonan
Miki Nakatani	...	Wife
Teruyuki Kagawa	...	Doctor
Jeong-u Pak	...	Gai
Jung-Woo Park	...	Gai
Ko To-Heui	...	Sai
Eun-ji Jo	...	Soda
Jun-ki Lee	...	Boy
Masachika Ichimura	...	Venus
Masatô Ibu	...	Man fo passing middle age
Takashi Matsuo	...	Master of Flower Shop
Masanobu Katsumura	...	Doctor of illegal
Yôji Tanaka	...	Policeman A
Pete Plum	...	Duster
Rizumu Kaneko	...	Lover og Chonan

Storyline

In a strange alienated world there is a secret hotel in a shabby diner called the Venus Café, harboring some unusual people where compelling secrets lie in each resident's heart. Torturing secrets that have broken their emotional boundaries in the past. In this bittersweet, heart-wrenching story, there lives a man by the name of Chonan (Tsuyoshi Kusanagi) who lives in the attic and works as a waiter or handyman at the hotel. Room 1 is shared by two residents; an incapable alcoholic and an illegal doctor named Doctor (Teruyuki Kagawa) and Wife (Miki Nakatani) who used to be a nurse but now works as a hostess living in the hopes of Doctor's recuperation. In Room 3 lives a bubbly girl by the name of Soda (Jo Eun Ji), who came from a deserted town where no one flowers flourished and has a dream to open her own flower shop. Finally, Room 4, occupied by a challenging young boy by the name of Boy (Lee Joon Gi), who carries around a gun longing to become a strong man and wishes to some day ...

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site [jp]

Country:

Japan

Language:

Korean

Release Date:

10 September 2004 (South Korea)

Also Known As:

The Hotel Venus

Filming Locations:

Vladivostok, Russia

Box Office

Budget:

JPY 10,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Venus Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

125 min

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

User Reviews

Soft images and hard experience

This film is one of those piece of art, which leaves in consciousness for the whole life. In a strange alienated world there are a hidden "Hotel Venus", harbouring some strange human beings. They are alone, but want to break a distance to each other.

The movie was filmed in Vladivostok, but this is NOT a film about Vladivostok. This is an existential parable. It has soft images, but it affects the subconsciousness with strong emotional power.

The soundtrack is also great, but it has some suspicious similarities with Boris Grebenshchekov (Russian music band "Akvarium"). I hope, this is not a plagiarism, but a variation of his theme.

And, of course, Kusanagi-san is really great. I think, this is one of the best Japanese movies of this year.