Reservations (2008)

Director:

Aloura Melissa Charles

Writer:

Aloura Melissa Charles (writer)

Release Date:

2008 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

A castaway, surrounded by water, suffers the most miserable thirst. The same ironic ache haunts lonely souls in the congested city of New York. But on this night, at a hotel, several strangers reach out and connect.

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Kerry Armstrong	...	Hellen
Tanner Blaze	...	Brenden
Anderson Boyd	...	Hotel Guest
Jordi Caballero	...	Gustavo
Alejandro Chabán	...	Tito
Loren Dean	...	Marc
Dee Freeman	...	Rose
Bill Glass	...	Rick
Vince Grant	...	Jack
Jacqueline Harris	...	British Journalist
Vanessa Johansson	...	Tara
Allen C. Liu	...	Asian Journalist
D. Taylor Loeb	...	Cassie
Pavel Lychnikoff	...	Tomas
Dan Olivo	...	Limo Driver
Michael Pasternak	...	Paul
Ada Luz Pla	...	Marlene
Laurie Reeves	...	Hot Tub Hottie
Retta	...	Monique
Wells Rosales	...	Miquel
Kish Sadhavi	...	Raffie
Saige Thompson	...	Hallie
Ulrich Thomsen	...	Leigh
Robin Weigert	...	Kate
Ray Wise	...	Mitch
Winter Ave Zoli	...	Marketa

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Altogether Alone

Soundtrack:

Hide

Loneliness bridged by Connections.

Reservations is an outstanding motion picture. It follows, in the sort of vein as Crash and Babel, a kind of loping, fragmented narrative, but manages to keep the plot clear of complications and remains easy to understand. It doesn't rub your face in the connections between the characters- they happen gently and naturally. The emotions are very real and at times almost raw. Mixing tragedy with a sort of wry comedy, the film manages to draw you into the characters and care about what they end up doing.

It's an indie cliché in many ways, featuring the kind of characters whose stereotypes will be all too familiar. The lonely actor whose career destroyed his family life, the older woman facing cancer alone, the young kid whose parents don't seem to care and leave him behind, the teenage girl who ran away from home to become an awkward prostitute, the maid who manages to make an emotional connection with a lonely guest - everyone knows these archetypes. Loneliness ties the characters together, and as a theme it might seem heavy and forced. Yet Reservations manages to take these characters and propel them into something more than the cliché, something that reminds you why the stereotype became popular in the first place. It's a film about loneliness, about connections, about language and love. Outreach is a major theme, and one done well.

The film is very new, but will likely be making the tour of various festivals. It's beautifully shot on Super16, and the colors are vivid and clear. It really looks like 35mm, and I'm normally picky about these things. There are only a couple weak scenes cinematically - a shot in an elevator that has a kind of glow that is not present in the rest of the film, and the otherwise fantastic landscape and ocean shots that were obviously slowed down in post production have a bit of almost jerky quality. The director, Aloura Charles previously worked as assistant to Scorsese on Gangs of New York, and as her first feature directorial debut the piece is very strong.