So much average

Best movie ever!

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

I've told literally everyone that this one of the greatest films ever made. So why do I love it so much? I love how ahead of its time and immersive it is. I was having a conversation with my Dad the other day and he said he remembered it when it was first released in the US in 1999 (elsewhere in '98). He had an interest in seeing it, but it was pulled from theaters before he could. Grossing 0.02M, scoring a 19% on Rotten Tomatoes, and averaging a 4.9/10 User score on IMDB, the film couldn't find an audience for a time. I've read countless positive reviews from several years ago. That indicates to me that some were able to appreciate it, while most showed a cynical/ skeptical view. People weren't ready for this. Since I got my Letterboxd, I have seen it receive more recognition on that site. There are reviews that I've read on there that are among some of the best film analyses I've ever come across. IMDB, not so much. But a lot people seem to get it now and that makes me feel betteI love how brutally honest it is. There are things I see in this that reflect on our society today. For one: sexism. Almost every male character is a misogynistic asshole, but that doesn't mean I can't find any redeeming qualities within them. Many of the subtleties in the film reveal themselves on each viewing, but this concept was clear to me from the first time I saw it. Both Fox and X are blatantly sexist. One of the first examples I noticed was coincidentally, in the beginning. In the brothel, Fox watches Sandy. He inquires to the other guests about her, wondering who she is. The scene cross fades to Sandy's tattoo, presumably during the night that X first had sex with her. Fox arrives and says "So, what's her story?" X replies, "What do you mean?" Which Fox follows with, "She didn't say anything? She had your c*ck in her mouth the whole time or what?" Maybe some will disagree with me here, but I find it disrespectful that Fox has no problem having this conversation in front of a woman. Just as he did in the brothel when he told Madame Rosa he was a "women magnet." Even when Sandy walks into the room he doesn't change his attitude. When he comments on her "cheap shoes" and her outfit, this indicates to me that he's kind of a dick. Sandy clearly knows what she's getting herself into and is used to people being intolerant/sexist. I was surprised she didn't walk out when Fox said to X, "She doesn't meet guys everyday who offer her one million dollars to do what she did with you just now for what--a couple of hundred?" Talking about her as if she's not even there. I question X's behavior in this regard as well. We are lead to believe that he loves Sandy, but he makes fun of her with Fox in the restaurant. Once again, these characters don't have respect for women. It is a society where women are treated as toys. The next: Manipulation. Everyone is deceptive in the world of New Rose Hotel. Manipulation is the key to getting what you want. If it's about money or power, these people will do anything. The quote, "If you believe, then he will. You have to fall in love. That's the key to all of this." That reflects the whole film right there. Relationships aren't authentic. Everything is about sex or personal gain. In the flashbacks we see X with another girl after the orgy right in front of Sandy. Her response is to join in. Once again, it's all about sex. The other: Journalism. You cannot prove anything that took place during this film. It is a reflection on secondary information and word of mouth. In this world, almost nothing is a reliable source. Even the scenes you saw, you cannot prove. My reasoning behind that is, when X is trying to make sense of everything that happened, the flashbacks show different takes than previously. This is not a mistake. This shows you that what you were previously lead to believe may have been wrong, or X's memory is distorted, or both. For example, in the beginning when Fox finds out about Hiroshi, he tells X: "I just found out Hiroshi's making plans to attend a conference in Vienna. I got the hotel where he's staying. It's his wife's favorite. Only--Hello--she won't be there. She's going to a spa." This conversation takes place in the brothel. However in the flashback he says: "I just found out Hiroshi's making plans to attend a conference in Vienna. I got the hotel where he's staying. It's his wife's favorite. Only--Hello--she won't be there. She's going to a convention." This isn't the only difference. Here, this encounter is in a totally different location than before. The final sequence is not only about this, but it also serves as X realizing he's been played. I love the character development. I notice more about X each time I watch it, but something I've picked up on is how he lets his desires override anything else. It doesn't take much to convince him of something if it involves money. When he tells Fox that he's "Through with it. No more Hiroshi." Fox says "Before you and I hooked up you had a helicopter flying over a smokestack, etc." He is trying to convince him that his previous job was insufficient and he needs to stay with corporate defectors. X just nods his head and smiles. Fox barely said anything and yet he goes along with it. That is because money is one of his desires and he will do anything to get it. Going back to his memories of Sandy's deception: There is a scene where she is asleep and he spots the card for the synthesizer in her passport, along with several identities other than the one they had discussed (Angelica De Mayo). When he is reflecting on this, he remembers that he didn't take action when seeing that she was going to betray them. Because he is allowing his lust for women to overtake this. I don't think I've ever seen such a character arc. It's incredible. To have a strong arc, a character should learn something or change in some way. X has learned that these desires: the money, the women, the things he keeps submitting to, have cost them their $100 million and Fox's life. On my first viewing I didn't quite wrap my head around the surveillance footage. It was on re-watches that I was able to see what it was all about. For me, it makes Hiroshi mysterious. Each time we see him it's on a fuzzy surveillance video. He is never actually there. What I love so much about that is it's telling us that Hiroshi's arc is the only thing being told to us explicitly. This is an aspect of the film where one can actually prove what's going on. This is a video being taken when Hiroshi is being his true self. Hiroshi is genuine, the other characters are not. So yeah. Half of you probably opened this, saw how long it was, and then clicked out of it. But if you did manage to stick around the whole time, this should answer the question as to why this film means so much to me. It manages to be an enticing Science Fiction/Cyberpunk Thriller and at the same time be a commentary on our society and the direction we're headed in. Unquestionably a Top 5 favorite by now.

The ONLY reason I rented it was to up my quota of Chris films seen (I'm now around 70-some, in case you were interested), and after renting it and turning it on, I still really can't say that I've seen it. I saw the first twenty minutes, when I was actually paying attention to the screen, but then I decided to take a nap, set my alarm, and went to sleep with the movie droning in the background. Yea, it was pretty bad. I should've know...despite starring Chris, Willem Dafoe, and Asia Argento, it WAS directed by Abel Ferrara, and boy, can i not stand that guy. I've never seen a movie of his that I liked...even King of New York, which boasts one of Chris's best performances. Oh well, I'll stop talking about it now, since I've nothing to say, and no rating to give...only a warning...don't see this movie (oh, unless you want to see Asia Argento take her clothes off, every couple of minutes, for the span of the movie).

When making movies out of fiction, most of the time it doesn't work, unless the original text is purely telegraphic in style. If it's good prose, it's not usually the larger actions that we see that make it good - it's something more ethereal within the style itself that give it quality. William Gibson's noir-influenced techno-satire would seem perfect for adaptation, but anyone who's suffered through (or even enjoyed) JOHNNY MNEMONIC suddenly realizes that the characters' tough-guy dialog sounds utterly preposterous when actually voiced by a human being.In NEW ROSE HOTEL, director Abel Ferrara finds the emotional heart of a very spare Gibson short (one of the best things Gibson's ever written, and blessedly short on actual dialog) and creates a recognizable near- future world and characters who seem as comfortable with this subtly accelerated reality as we of 2005 are with plasma-screen TVs and mobile phones. The structure of the film can be extremely off-putting to those without enormous patience - it's very slow-paced, and halfway through we see the almost the entire story over again, but very slightly changed. As far as I can tell, most of the scenes were shot twice from different angles. The entire point of Abel Ferrara's approach is to visually represent the phrase, "If only I knew then what I know now". NEW ROSE HOTEL really needs to be seen at least twice to be understood, and only lets go of the intelligence and daring of the direction and the performances after repeated viewings. Christopher Walken plays Christopher Walken, under the guise of the character "Fox", but I've rarely seen Walken so simultaneously comfortable and affected in any other role. Willem Dafoe has to play younger than he looks, and we get to watch his character learn what a fool he's been, writhing with embarrassed disgust and fear as he discovers that the source of his predicament is his own stupidity and sentimentality. A very young-looking Asia Argento plays Sandii with more depth than she is regularly given credit for - her style is so subtle and genuine that she hardly seems to be acting, and as far as I've seen, she isn't, but she's so sexy and vulnerable that I'm more than willing to watch.It's a shame this film is so under-appreciated; it's definitely my favorite Ferrara film, and one of my top two Christopher Walken films. And lots of Asia in her underwear - what's not to love?

It's hard to believe that a movie directed by Abel Ferrara based on a story by William Gibson and starring Christopher Walken, Willem Dafoe and Asia Argento would be anything less than great, but this movie is just OK. It has a lot of moody atmosphere. Asia A., the lovely Eurobabe who is supposedly ogre-ish horror-meister Dario Argento's daughter (I, for one, won't believe it until I see the blood tests), spends most of the movie in various states of undress (unfortunately, so does Dafoe). Walken is great as always. But literally nothing happens. It's all atmosphere, eerie music, and occasional bursts of softcore groping. Neither Ferrara's visuals, Walken's acting presence, or Argento's tatooed nether regions can ultimately carry a film so totally devoid of conventional plot, suspense, or action. Not a bad film, just a disappointing one.