The Royal Hotel – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

Kitty Green on the Outback, Living Dangerously and THE ROYAL HOTEL – Bonnie Laufer interviews

October 5, 2023January 6, 2024 Bonnie Laufer Jessica Henwick, julia garner, kitty green, The Royal Hotel

Following her success with the film The Assistant starring Julia Garner, writer-director Kitty Green is back with another film reuniting her with the actress. In The Royal Hotel, Americans Hanna (Garner) and Liv (Jessica Henwick) are backpacking in Australia and take a temporary live-in job in a remote Outback mining town. Soon, they find themselves trapped in an unnerving situation that grows rapidly out of their control.

Reviews

THE ROYAL HOTEL – Review by Diane Carson

September 21, 2023September 23, 2023 Diane Carson australian films, Hotel Coolgardie, Jessica Henwick, julia garner, kitty green, Michael Latham, Oscar Redding, The Royal Hotel

Consider the desperation, courage, and naiveté prompting two young American friends, Hanna and Liv, to accept a job bartending at the completely misnamed Royal Hotel, located in a remote Australian Outback mining town. As backpacking tourists in Sydney without any viable options, they certainly need the money. However, Hanna and Liv fail utterly to anticipate the clientele, to their dismay.

Festivals Reviews

THE ROYAL HOTEL (TIFF 2023) – Review by Emma Badame

September 18, 2023September 18, 2023 Emma Badame australian films, Hotel Coolgardie, Jessica Henwick, julia garner, kitty green, Michael Latham, Oscar Redding, The Royal Hotel, TIFF 2023

Australian director Kitty Green’s second narrative feature The Royal Hotel is a wholly unnerving and totally engrossing thriller. Atmospheric and all too realistic, it’s the kind of story that sticks with you long after the credits have rolled. The film is paced to perfection and each and every well-planned element is woven expertly together to build layers upon layers of truly discomforting suspense. With Green’s keen eye the film becomes a riveting exploration of isolation and what it truly feels like to be a young woman in the world. It helps too that Julia Garner and Jessica Henwick nail their characters.

Festivals Interviews

KITTY GREEN on THE ROYAL HOTEL (TIFF 2023) – Liz Braun interviews

September 18, 2023September 22, 2023 Liz Braun australian films, Hotel Coolgardie, Jessica Henwick, julia garner, kitty green, Michael Latham, Oscar Redding, The Royal Hotel, TIFF 2023

Australian filmmaker Kitty Green delves into the war between men and women in The Royal Hotel, a film about two young backpackers who take barmaid jobs in a mining area in Australia’s isolated outback. How they fare in an environment drenched in testosterone and alcohol is an edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller about gender dynamics. Julia Garner and Jessica Henwick star in The Royal Hotel as the tourists who take pub jobs to top up their holiday fund. The Royal Hotel is about systemic issues, says Green, “about drinking culture and women feeling threatened in certain spaces.

Festivals

Telluride FF 2023: Celebrates Diversity for its 50th Year – Diane Carson reports

September 7, 2023September 8, 2024 Diane Carson Anatomy of a Fall, Christy Hall, Daddio, justine triet, kitty green, telluride film festival, Telluride Film Festival 2023, The Royal Hotel

The Telluride Film Festival, always held over Labor Day Weekend in that gorgeous Colorado town, celebrated fifty years with a dazzling diversity. The twenty films I squeezed into five days ranged from director Tod Browning’s 1927 The Unknown, starring Lon Chaney and Joan Crawford, to writer/director Justine Triet’s intriguing Anatomy of a Fall, this year’s prestigious Cannes Palme d’Or winner.