A likeable Indie film
Added 9/13/2008
The Motel is like a successful blind date: the conversation is not terribly interesting or engaging, but the banter is pleasant and non-offensive; the food isn't gourmet or great but the serving sizes are adequate and no one leaves hungry. At the end of this movie you will feel that you didn't waste your time, but you might not want to pursue it.
Actually, for a small budgeted indie film, this one does earn some points. The acting is superlative, the setting (a seedy motel that rents rooms by the hour) is genuine and the cinematography is honest. But the story doesnt go anywhere and creates little visceral response.
It is a 3 1/2 stars film-- 4 stars if you can identify with the Chinese-American, cultural coming of age theme.
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Can you say funny?
Added 8/18/2008
I've seen this movie in my school as a part of an Asian Club event, Michael Kang, the director of the movie came to my school to talk a bit about his movie. Being an asian american kid myself, my parents had to work endless jobs to get their kids a good future, of course, we also had to help work for them too. I definitely would recommend this not only because it is a sneak peek to a life that is rarely told, but it also is about growing up and that sometimes the "bad influences" may end up being the good ones.
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well done
Added 4/21/2008
If you are a fan of Sung Kang's and not sure if you should buy this movie or not, trust me. It is a really good buy. You won't regret. I like all of the characters in this movie. Very attractive and no fake feeling.
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Not terribly memorable.
Added 8/1/2007
The Motel (Michael Kang, 2003)
The reviews have been divided on this one. I've been going through them because I have no idea what to say about it. I got it, I watched it, and by the time the movie ended, I had forgotten most of it-- this despite it having an exceptionally short running time for a feature (seventy-six minutes).
It's a coming of age tale about Ernest (Jeffrey Chyau), whose mother runs a seedy hourly-rate motel. He has no father, but finds an approximation in Sam (The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift's Sung Chang), who attempts to drag him kicking and screaming into the world of adulthood so he can win the girl of his dreams, Katie (Alexis Chang), whose parents run a nearby Chinese restaurant.
I can't really put my finger on what it was about the movie that didn't grab me, but perhaps it's just the absence of stuff to grab me that did it. There wasn't anything that really stood out here. All of it was competent, but nothing more than that. A good time-killer, but not one to go out of your way for. ** ½
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WHAT HAPPENS IN MOTEL DOESN"T STAY IN MOTEL!
Added 4/23/2007
This is a quirky, charming and irreverent indy film that stars Jeffrey Chyau as Ernest Chinn a 13 year old Chinese-American boy whose family runs a seedy motel where he works the night shift. It has the feel of one of my old old cult favorites TELL ME THAT YOU LOVE ME JUNIE MOON...with a bit of Weekend at Bernie's tossed in and a bit of American Graffiti on the dark side. Can you imagine coming of age where sex and drugs and the bizarre are the rule rather than the random occurance. Chyau is amazing, stoic yet poignant, awkward yet wise beyond his years. Befriended by a Korean fast Eddie type dude crashing at his parents motel, he gets the first feelings of having a big brother or father yet that whiff is complex and unstable like the rest of his life. Chin proves that puberty sucks at any age and place. This film won the humanitarian prize at Sundance and it is humanity at its best and its worse. Why is it so hard to grow up? Chyau is a stubby chubby kid and that adds to the challenge especially today when so many kids are overweight and often overlooked by busy parents. Samantha Futerman (Memoirs of a Geisha) brings a sweetness to 15 year old Christine who is Chinn's first girlfriend or at least he yearns for her to be. The DVD includes cast audition tapes, behind the scenes featurettes and deleted scenes. It's a rainy day kind of movie in mood.
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