3+1 Short Paragraphs: Bad Times at the El Royale

2018, Drew Goddard (The Cabin in the Woods) -- download

Speaking of Drew Goddard (well not really, but he was silently referenced in the last post) here we get the highly anticipated, well really, not-even-aware it was coming out, follow-up to his completely loved first film. Drew is more a producer, but considering his company (the Buffy crowd) and Cabin I am right there with anything he wants to create. That said, I am surprised I had not heard wind of it coming out, and thankful for Roman (coworker, film maker) for bringing it to my attention.

Of note, this post probably should have been a I Saw This!! ("feature wherein Graig or David attempt to write about a bunch of stuff they watched some time ago") but I actually deleted most of the material (twice!) that would have been relegated to that kind of post, during my ... absence. And yet, this movie resides in that same "not quite remembered" portion of my brainpan. I blame stress and stress related distraction.

Now, even without Drew's name being attached, this movie was right down my dark alley. It is a 1960s pseudo noir more hard-boiled film with ensemble cast of loosely connected stories, all intertwining together until it comes to a fiery end. We have the old priest, a lounge singer, a pair of sisters on the run from a cult, a travelling salesman and the night manager of an off-season (i.e. empty), straddling the border (Nevada/California) hotel. For the most part, it's a box story, as long as you extend the box to the entire hotel.

The movie is jam packed with ideas and characters and imagery and plot pieces, the story being a petri dish for thoughts about America in the late 60s. So many things look good and sound good and there some aspects of the movie that are just incredible examples of a craftsman. But the trouble with it is that we are led to believe it's all leading somewhere spectacular, while instead Goddard just burns it all down around us. Maybe it is a metaphor for America right now, in that after the glorious redemption that rose out of the 60s, with America seeking to make right with its past, we are now just all watching that burn down? Either way, despite not being satisfied with how it all ended, I just loved watching him do his thing.