THE SEASIDE MOTEL Review
The Seaside Motel is a shabby four-room establishment that scarcely warrants its name. Situated in a remote mountainous region of Japan, far from any discernible coastline, its misleading moniker proves a letdown to all who step over the threshold. What it lacks in picturesque vistas however, it makes up for in garish, flamboyant décor and eclectic clientele. There are no visible staff on duty and amenities are frugal to say the least - even the water supply is shut off after dark, but over the course of one night, a disparate cross-section of gangsters, prostitutes and other assorted low-lifes converge on the establishment, leading to a series of intertwining and increasingly bizarre events.
Masayuki (Ikuta Toma) is a failing salesman, forced to this backwoods hellhole to peddle fake skin cream. He is not to return home until he has sold his entire suitcase of samples, but is suffering from a serious crisis of conscience and self-confidence. His evening turns from tedious to titillating however, when call girl Candy (Aso Kumiko) mistakenly turns up at his door and the pair seem to make a rare, genuine connection. Candy was meant to go upstairs, where grocery store manager Katsutoshi (Furuta Arata) had ordered in some much-needed relief to aid his marital boredom. His plan backfires, however, when his wife (Kojima Hijiri) dresses him in drag before taking off for the evening, threatening to divorce him if he changes.
In the room next-door, insufferable gambler Yosuke (Yamada Takayuki) is hiding out with his girlfriend (Narumi Riko), after running out on a ¥30 million debt. It is not long before the yakuza track him down, in the form of Yosuke's old childhood buddy Toshio (Tamayama Tetsuji) and his clueless lieutenant (Emoto Tokio). The fourth room plays host to scheming wannabe playboy Tatsuya (Ikeda Tetsuhiro) and the agonisingly high maintenance nightclub girl, Marin (Yamasaki Mami) he has finally convinced to come away with him.
Moriya Kentaro's second stab as a writer/director (after 2005's SCHOOL DAZE) is based on the manga by Okada Yukio and promises to be an anarchic black comedy of intertwining mishaps and misdemeanours as events in each room inadvertently trigger increasingly outrageous results for the other guests. Or at least this was Moriya and co-writer Kakinomoto Ryu's intention. What we get is a fantastic conceit that is never fully exploited and as the film goes on, the laughs become increasingly infrequent, the energy levels dwindle and when we finally reach the film's admittedly rather satisfying final image, it can muster little more than a shrug from its audience.
This is a great shame as Moriya has assembled an energetic cast, brimming with likeable leads, charismatic villains and a bevy of gorgeous girls who are all fully invested in delivering eccentric, enthusiastic performances that perfectly mirror the film's vibrant visual style and delightfully lurid art direction. The four rooms are each given their own unique identity, boasting dazzling colour schemes and adventurous furnishing choices - including replica neon jukeboxes and authentic Emmanuelle wicker armchairs - that serve to distract patrons from the numerous patches of mould and damp that betray a sense of neglect and decay. The cast is also adorned in a fine array of costumes, ranging from Toshio's black & white pimp suit to Yosuke's glittery briefs and cowboy boots.
The script sets up four potentially rewarding stories, only to basically ignore two of them completely. After sticking him in a wig and make-up, the film all but abandons Yosuke and never develops Tatsuya & Marin's story into anything interesting. Instead we have Masayuki and Candy indulging in round after round of quasi-confessional mind games while all the real action is left to Yosuke, Toshio and the amusingly freakish torturer Mr. Pepe (Nukumizu Yoichi).
While the set-up and design fleetingly evoke other hotel-based works of recent years, such as FOUR ROOMS and BARTON FINK, and are certainly the film's strongest and most enduring features, THE SEASIDE MOTEL will be best remembered for what it fails to be, rather than what it accomplishes. It is a disappointing missed opportunity that has no idea how to use its bountiful assets to its advantage. While the first half is engaging, amusing and earns plentiful goodwill from its audience, Moriya soon loses the reins and as the different story threads unravel so the film also falls apart, rather than converge into a more satisfying finale.
