Hotel 'Zum verunglückten Alpinisten'

Film is based on the novel by Strugatsky brothers. Police inspector is called to a mountain hotel, but there's no crime. When snow avalanche blocks hotel from the rest of the world, strange things start to happen.. Brilliant soundtrack from Sven Grünberg.

Unfortunately, some of the other reviews and especially their titles somewhat give away ahead of time what the audience really doesn't come to know until towards the end of the story. So, I guess my first suggestion would be to be careful which reviews you read about this movie.

It is a very unusual film, that sets off being somewhat of a Crime/Mystery story, which it definitely is, but later transforms somewhat into something else. Like I mentioned, I do not want to give anything important away.

I don't think I've ever seen an Estonian film before, it is an interesting language. I expected it to sound more like Russian and Polish, but it didn't really. I wonder what the roots of the Estonian language are?

Especially for the time and I'm assuming by filmmakers that didn't have a ton of experience, I felt it was quite a stylish and sharply written/directed movie that really kept the audience in suspense as to what was actually going on.

There are some really nice Surreal touches that many times in films like this may come across as a bit dated and pretentious, but quite honestly I was rather surprised that the cinematography, sound design, and the editing contributed to a pretty solid atmosphere that I think perfectly blended a Crime/Mystery with more Surreal aspects.

Someone else mentioned the movie 'ALPHAVILLE', and I would say that there are some similarities in the look and mood of the film. But, the eventual reveals are more subtle.

So, a bit on the 'Artsy' side, but for this type of movie done at that time, I think it was put together in an engaging and effective way. It may not appeal to everyone, but to ones who perhaps like movies that are a bit more on the Surreal and somewhat understated side, then you might find this one intriguing...

I gave it a '7' due to its quality and effectiveness, perhaps leaning more towards it's artistic slant. But, maybe considering 'Mass Appeal' some may consider it more of a '6'

'Dead Mountaineer's Hotel' still remains basically only Estonian science fiction film in the truest sense. Police inspector arrives into remote mountain hotel to investigate anonymous tip where he discovers that it was false alarm. After the avalanche cuts the hotel, and all it's inhabitants from the outer world, the strange things start to occur. Doppelgangers, terrorists, aliens, androids, and flirtatious sultry women.

Wonderful cinematography of snowy mountains under bright sun against dark interior of the hotel that leaves feeling that it's as cold inside the hotel as it is outside, and intensifies the claustrophobic atmosphere of the hotel. Inspector Glebsky grows more and more desperate and paranoid when he tries to solve the crimes only relying on his common sense, logic and skepticism that lead to unfortunate tragic events leaving audience falter who was the real villain. The name of the hotel 'Dead Mountaineer' is explained briefly (and quite satisfactory), but it also leaves nice eerie mystery floating around - who was that enigmatic 'dead mountaineer' whose dog still sleeps under his bleak portrait hanging on the wall. Sven Grünberg's fantastic synthesizer score adds another layer of mystery and anticipation. The song 'Ball' has a lyrics, but they don't make sense because it's only gibberish - and when we see aliens dance to this song hypnotically it's almost like they understand it (although real reason why the song didn't had any proper words was the Soviet regulation of the time demanding the lyrics of the song to be translated into Russian when released in Russia - Grünberg didn't like the idea of translating his lyrics so he invented the gibberish for the song.).

I basically hate sci-fi, but I was still fascinated by the design of lighting and shadows in this film. The high-key, high-contrast exterior of the snowy mountains acts obviously opposite to the low-key, low-contrast interior of the hotel. The lighting of the interior scenes can be described as "dazzling," not dazzling brightness, but dazzling colour and weirdness. The director seemed to deliberately avoid any establishing shots; thus, the audience would still be confused about the internal structure of the hotel until the end of the film.

There are the typical blinds of film noir, but they don't cast the classic shadow of the blinds onto the characters, despite the shadows from other frames and obstacles being abundant in this film. Also, there is a noir-style narration of the protagonist throughout the film. The narration begins in the past tense of memories, while slowly turning into the immersive present tense. After arriving at the hotel, the protagonist enters his room for the first time, and there are several typical splitting reflections of him in mirrors, which craftily foreshadow that he would be the one who will eventually encounter a dilemma, morally.

The film ends with the protagonist questioning himself against the fourth wall - should individuals within the institution and authorities carry out duties diligently, or should they hold their sympathy high for the objects?

The setting - a secluded mountain lodge high in the Alps - contributes a great deal to the appeal of this film. The nominal story centers around a police inspector called upon to investigate a murder and the diverse group of colorful characters he encounters during his stay. Apparently it's based on a novel by the authors of the book from which Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker was adapted. Even as the plot becomes gradually more bizarre, there were a lot more positives than negatives in my opinion. The absurd tone of the movie reminded me a bit of Godard's Alphaville. Though it perhaps adds up to less than the sum of its parts, the film has a disarming quality about it which charmed me.