Hotel paura (1996) User Reviews

Man loses job, spirals downward

[acmenaming · 7/10 · 25 July 2008]

I saw this film ten years ago and it stayed with me...I'm not sure it was ever even released, but I loved it and found it ahead of its time. Yuppie loses his job and then loses everything one after another:

his wife, apartment, dignity... thought it showed out tenuous and uncertain our existences are, pull one thread and it can all unravel. Surprised to see other commenter saying not to waste time on it, I loved it.

Now with the dotcom crash, it rings more true. Much deeper than "full Monty" and other films that have dealt with a similar kind of loss of job and dignity.

Don´t waste your precious time on this waste of celluloid

[lonx · 3/10 · 11 March 2003]

******Spoilers ahead***************

This movie shows the decadence of a fortysomething finantial director who gets himself trapped into a whirlwind of bad luck. Carlo Ruggeri is a respected Diretor in what seems to be an accounting firm. Almost as a gift to his wife, he buys an upscale, roomier apartment. After the conclusion fo a merging process, which Carlo was one of the the masterminds, he is vile and unjustified fired. He cannot get the deposit on the new apartment back, and the landlord of his old apartment needs it for his soon-to-marry daughter. Carlo can´t find anything for rent, as the offers are mostly for temporary contracts and students.The City Hall places Carlo and his wife and daughter on a low-budget flat, where the residents are mostly white trash. At all times, Carlo keeps his poise.Either very calm, or weak, he accepts everything without a quarrel.Carlo also refuses help from his brother-in-law, a prick who envies his success and seeks to humiliate him. Soon Carlo´s wife, Liliana runs out of patience and moves to her mother´s place, in another city. The city hall discovers this the day after, and Carlo is no longer entitled to stay on the flat. And so the story goes, things always getting worse. According to director Renato de Maria, "the story of a man who makes his way through society from top to bottom. It looks like a journey to hell, but it isn't: it is a journey like all the others - a road which leads to knowledge and self-awareness." Too bad the editing of the scenes is a tad loose, the way the story is told is shallow, insipid. De Maria didn´t want to turn this movie into a melodrama, but the result is just a boring movie. In the movie Carlo loses everything, even his integrity. Don´t waste your time on it.