Product: The Million Dollar Hotel (2000)
Rating: 4.0
A Contemporary Impressionist Film
The plot has nothing to do with reality, and that's fine; it's not about plot. The acting is all over the map, from a completely stiff Gibson to Davies' Forrest-Gump-meets-Tigger rendition of Tom-Tom, and that's exactly as it should be; it's about different characters playing off each other. Wenders focuses his sweet, gentle, character-revealing techniques on a cast of deranged, distasteful characters; we get to really like them, and really dislike them. It's a hodge-podge of magical realism, detective story, romance, and farce. It mixes stunning visuals with the filthy underbelly of L.A.It's not typical Gibson, Bono, Jovovich, or Wenders, although it's arguably more Wenders than anything else.It's a love story about Tom-Tom and Eloise. It's a love story about Wim Wenders, Bono, and Los Angeles. It's a love story about the pain and the joy that are life. It's a love story about light, music and atmosphere. It's a love story about film, and what film can do.Many movies entertain. A few make you think. This one made me feel.