An interesting integration of road-movie, drama, horror, and social-issue thriller
Tension builds to crescendo in this understated outback film, where more is expected of the female backpackers working the pub than the simple pouring of pints.
Forced to leave Sydney after running out of cash, Canadian backpackers Hannah and Liv find themselves in the thick of an outback mining town as barmaids at the Royal Hotel. Upon walking through the doors for the first time, they notice a sign that says Fresh Meat with a caricature drawing of a pair of breasts. Referring to Hannah and Liv, it’s marketing at its chauvinistic finest, and the gendered abuse doesn’t stop there.
Notable Australian director Kitty Green has worked with #MeToo microaggressions before in The Assistant, where Julia Garner (Ozark) played the subordinate to a Weinstein-like character in an office setting. In The Royal Hotel, the duo have paired up again, this time with Garner as Hannah, a young woman who must navigate the toxic misogynist locale of outback Australia.
Co-written by Oscar Redding, the film follows the lead of Pete Gleeson’s 2016 documentary Hotel Coolgardie, which focuses on two female Finnish backpackers working in a similar setting. Swinging the genre pendulum toward feature film holds all kinds of possibility, and as tension proves to be the star, the most obvious question building in the viewer’s mind becomes: Is this a horror film à la Ted Kotcheff’s cult classic Wake in Fright?
Filmed three hours north of Adelaide, in Yatina, the film captures a middle-of-nowhere, male-dominated, creepy environment perfectly, thanks to Michael Latham’s cinematography and an outstanding cast of actors. Hugo Weaving is the embodiment of the drunken publican Bill, whose violent outbursts are nothing more than part of the scenery, even while bodily directed at Carol (Ursula Yovich), presumably the bar manager, his partner, and the only Aboriginal person inside the establishment. Toby Wallace plays likable Matty, though he’s as dodgy – and brilliant – as his character was in Babyteeth, for which he won the Marcello Mastroianni Award for an emerging actor at the Venice Film Fest. James Frecheville plays the endearingly shy Teeth, and like Matty, we learn swiftly enough that the girls need to watch out for the good guys as well as the bad. Daniel Henshall plays the ultimate baddy, Dolly, without any duality: he leers his way through every scene so we know exactly what he’s about.
With dirty jokes spat at them and about them, Hannah is ever-watchful of these and other locals, all a throng of sexist and racist lushes, and she’s rightfully distrustful of the entire situation. Obviously she has a tough job of keeping herself safe while also playing the guardian of travelling companion Liv (Jessica Henwick of Glass Onion), who’s the classic shot-taking, snogging backpacker of the twosome. It’s a Thelma and Louise set-up, and maybe the screenplay took the theme too far in the film’s denouement.
An interesting integration of road-movie, drama, horror, and social-issue thriller, The Royal Hotel nails the mood of a building unease that women too often tell themselves can’t be real – just keep smiling, they tell themselves, just laugh along – but in failing to pick any one category in a more definitive way, the film ultimately falls short of what could be superb.
Reviewed by Heather Taylor Johnson
The Royal Hotel is currently screening as part of the Adelaide Film Festival.
Click here for screening details and to book tickets.
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