Hotel Noir (2012)

1950s LA: A police detective checks into a hotel with a bag of money, hoping to go away with Swedish Mary.

Director:

Sebastian Gutierrez

Writer:

Sebastian Gutierrez

Stars:

Malin Akerman, Patrick Arthur, Aaron Behr

Cast

Credited cast:
Malin Akerman	...	Swedish Mary
Patrick Arthur	...	Nightclub Patron (as Patrick Hyde)
Aaron Behr	...	Paul
Michael Raif Brizzolara	...	Mysterious Gentleman (as Michael Raif)
John Colella	...	Barman Jack
Kevin Connolly	...	Vance
Michelle Dawley	...	Dancer
Rosario Dawson	...	Sevilla
Lauren Dearmon	...	Bettie Page Girl
Danny DeVito	...	Eugene Portland
Isaac Eshete	...	Melvin
Andrew Fiscella	...	Otto (as Andy Fiscella)
Robert Forster	...	Jim Logan
Carla Gugino	...	Hanna Click
Michael B. Jordan	...	Leon

Storyline

Los Angeles, 1958: a detective holes up in a downtown hotel awaiting killers to come get him. During the course of one night he will meet various occupants of the hotel and the truth of how he came to be in his present situation will be revealed.

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Plot Keywords:

neo noir | hotel | detective | nylon stockings | blonde bombshell | 

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Taglines:

Check your reservations at the door.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Romance | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

The character name of "Eugene Portland" would seem to be an obvious reference to the second and first largest cities in Oregon.

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Alternate Versions

Re-released in 2016, in color, as the movie City of Sin.

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Connections

Referenced in Cowboy (2017)

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Soundtracks

Shiny Diamonds
Written by Eric Elbogen
Piano and Arrangement by Peter Smith
Vocals by Carla Gugino
Recorded, engineered and mixed at Stagg Street Studio by Erich Gobel

User Reviews

An old-fashioned, colorless movies full of intrigues

"Are you a cop? Why? You ask questions like a cop. How's that? Like you're not really interested in the answer, but the way I answer. I'm a cop. No kidding. You're on a stakeout? I was gonna hop a train. Changed your mind? Missed my train."

"Hotel Noir" takes place in the infamous 50s. The years of glitter and glamour with its jazzy mood. When men walked around like Humphrey Bogart and every woman seemed to be a diva. Those were the days that lightning a cigarette wasn't associated with a deadly disease, but with fun and sensuality. The time in which a microphone looked like a significantly over-sized toaster and women wore bras as if sophisticated cruise missiles were hidden in it. The same wigwam-shaped things Madonna became famous with, many years later. Men and women had conversation as if they were performing in a stage play with rapid dialogue lines which sounded shrewd and ingenious. It was the Charleston time and the time the mafia ruled with Dick Tracy-like gangsters.

Unfortunately this rather old-fashioned-feeling film reminded me of the dull theater shows I had to watch when I went to high school. At the beginning I still had this hopeful thought that this could be a pretty entertaining movie. And this because of the fact that they managed to convince a few well-known actors to cooperate, such as Dany Devito, Rufus "I'll follow you down" Sewell, Rosario "Trance" Dawson and Carla "San Andreas" Gugino. But despite the well-known cast, the film felt like a third-rate detective novel in which the relationships between the protagonists revealed themselves painfully slow. And the stories are intertwined such as the spaghetti in a Spaghetti Bolognaise.

And that's also the biggest drawback of this film. The complexity and quantity of twists made it a really hard to follow film. It all feels cheap and minimalistic as well. Both in terms of story as scenography. I bet the limited budget, this movie was made with, probably has something to do with that. And it's not really intriguing or exciting at all. The conversation between Felix (Rufus Sewell) and Hanna Click (Carla Gugino) is the most fascinating part of the whole movie. A series of short questions and answers the two protagonists are shooting at each other. Amazingly shrewd sometimes. But ultimately it's still nothing more than a colorless film, trying to emulate a similar film from a successful era in film history. A game of Cluedo was more exciting in those days.

More reviews here : http://bit.ly/1KIdQMT

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 September 2012 (USA)

Also Known As:

City of Sin

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Gato Negro Films, Shangri-La Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1