Aggiungi una trama nella tua linguaA pair of working-class brothers flee their Reno Motel after getting involved in a fatal hit-and-run accident.A pair of working-class brothers flee their Reno Motel after getting involved in a fatal hit-and-run accident.A pair of working-class brothers flee their Reno Motel after getting involved in a fatal hit-and-run accident.
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- 3 vittorie e 3 candidature
Trama
Lo sapevi?
- QuizThe cast and crew of The Motel Life lived in a casino during the shoot.
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[first lines]
Jerry Lee 16 years: Can you tell me a story, Frankie? Tell me something good. Make me the hero. Maybe I can get the girl.
Frank - 14: I got one. A long time ago, you and me were fighter pilots in the war. The Flannigan brothers. We were famous. One morning we were heading over to Germany when we got ambushed. You and me versus 20 German fighters. It was a mess. Real dog fight. It was touch-and-go, but we were winning until a Nazi came out of the fog and started firing away at you. Luckily I came down and blew the son of a bitch up. "Thanks Tiger-5", you said over the radio. Problem was, your plane was hit and your controls were stuck. You were heading towards Iceland, and there was nothing you could do. You disappeared into the clouds.
- ConnessioniFeatures Bonanza: Dark Star (1960)
- Colonne sonoreMr. Mudd and Mr. Gold
Written by Townes van Zandt
Performed by Townes van Zandt
Courtesy of Fat Possum Records. All rights administered by Wixen Music Publishing, Inc.
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.
- secondtake
- 12 set 2014
- Permalink
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Dettagli
- Tempo di esecuzione1 ora 25 minuti
- Colore
- Mix di suoni
- Proporzioni
- 2.35 : 1