The Motel Life

I became a fan of Stephen Dorff after his role in Sophia Coppola's Somewhere and Emile Hirsch in the great Alpha Dog. Even the smaller roles with Kris Kristofferson and Dakota Fanning are remarkable in this movie. But all the good acting still keeps the flick just a notch above average. Its not so much about life in a motel or all that, but the lives and decisions of two brothers and all the drama that goes with it. Dorff plays an immature amputee who is dependent on Hirsch and does a great job. Man, just watching Dorff complain and cry is almost nerve-racking. The dark, cold, snowy, gloomy scenes make you feel the weather, but I wish there was more to the story line than just good acting and the scenery.

Dorff is very good, but everyone is really solid.

Not much happening, but Dorff's tales are good. It's sad but captivating.

Gloomy nomads and gloomy Nevada in the 1990's amount to a gloomy viewing experience in The Motel Life. The title clues us well enough: Living any time in a motel could be disastrous for mental health. The movie itself has that kind of despair.

Frank Lee (Emile Hirsch) helps wit-challenged brother, Jerry (Stephen Dorff), after the latter kills a boy on a bike and leaves the scene. Together they light out for motels with some imaginative cartoons representing stories Frank tells Jerry Lee throughout their lives. Some critics find the animations distracting; I find them imaginative and boredom reducing.

The confusing mash up of past and present (the boys are not much different from what they were) is relieved by Annie (Dakota Fanning), who is serene even in her conflicts. Fanning has grown into an intelligent actress and shows it here. In fact, Frank is fortunate to have such a dear girl improbably waiting for him. Another relief from motel boredom is cops looking for the driver of the lethal car. Add an enjoyable cameo by Kris Kristofferson as Earl Hurley, a car dealer, and the film is momentarily relieved from oblivion. Otherwise, the boys are on the lam and reminiscing while going deeper in debt and guilt.

One high point is their winning several thousand dollars betting on Buster Douglas over Mike Tyson. You can guess how wisely they use it. But the money allows them to go to another motel, by now a motif of squalor and loneliness, no surprise to those with limited income and without Marriott points. Changing motels and buying carry out food reinforce the rootless melancholy of these not-too-bright boys. It's tough to care about such nitwits.

On a more positive note, cinematographer Roman Vas'yanov captures the bleak winter landscape using film, not digits. It's possible to see how much more imposing the winter can be with old-fashioned celluloid. Just consider what Hitchcock achieves with that old Bates Motel. Now that's not dull.

The Motel Life (2012)

Brimming with conventional thriller possibilities, including a serious tinge about brothers remaining loyal to the end, "The Motel Life" ends up a near miss in scene after scene. We learn quickly that there is a pact made between the two because of a mother who dies and leaves them little to live on. And we see how one brother has killed someone in his car by mistake (it seems) and so ends up dragging both brothers into the flight from justice.

This all sounds solid, yes. But there are just those endless little things that set it wrong. The acting varies from excellent (Frank, one of the two brothers) to strained (Jerry, who overacts) to awkward (a couple of their friends playing stereotypical parts). The plot has elements of intensity, for sure—too many, you might say—but it also rings too many familiar bells. There is death, gambling, amputation, prostitution, drinking, gay-bashing, attempted suicide, theft (of a dog!), and an extended hospital scene that ends with great and necessary drama.

To say the flaws here are the result of the low budget is to miss what might have been a golden opportunity: making a truly original story out of these young men caught between honor and ordinary crime. That is, there is a raw edge here that could have been exploited with less aggressive writing that tips every angle into sensational excess. Only the steady, thoughtful leading actor, Frank, played by Emile Hirsch, holds it all together and makes it, in the end, at least worth watching. To his credit, a small but key part by Kris Kristofferson is also compelling and gives the movie some weight.

Co-directors Polsky and Polsky are new to movie-making, and it shows. But it's also apparent that something deeper is at work that might grow and be rewarding, especially with a better screenplay. Let's hope this is just a first tentative step forward.

This is a tough film. It's gritty and it feels nostalgic as you watch the scenery in the film because it feels like we have all traveled to places like this before. It's a film about the sadness which harnesses it's energy upon us and sometimes we can never quite shake it. Or perhaps we can shake it.

Raw performances by Stephen Dorff and Emile Hirsch, their best performances to date, in my opinion. If the film could have lobbied its actors maybe even an academy award nomination would have been in the midst for Dorff or Hirsch.

A fine made film about who we are, what we lose and what we try to get back. Sad in all it's humility.