Oct

8

2006

The Wow-Choten Hotel

Posted by luna6

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Movie : The Wow-Choten Hotel / The Uchoten Hoteru / THE 有頂天ホテル
Release Date : February 14, 2006
Country : Japan
Director : Koki Mitani
Starring: Takako Matsu, Shingo Katori, Koji Yakusho
Runtime : 136 Minutes
Editor Rating : 8.0
Users Rating: 8.5 1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars6 Stars7 Stars8 Stars9 Stars10 Stars (10 votes)

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Plot Synopsis : Two hours left until New Years and the crew at the glamorous Wow-Choten Hotel have their hands absolutely full.

There’s a banquet being held at 11:30. honoring the Man of The Year for stag directors. That’s right “stag director” and not stage director as manger Shindo-San first assumes. Unfortunately, the honorary speaker Mamoru Jimbo suddenly disappears.

An infamous senator is also staying at the hotel and the press are waiting outside the hotel for him. The senator was recently accused of accepting bribes from corporate interests and was earlier involved in a sex scandal. To complicate matters further, the lady that he was involved with in the sex scandal now works at the Wow-Choten Hotel as a maid.

The hotel’s annual New Years celebration is set to start in two hours. The banner that the hotel’s CEO requested arrives at the hotel with misspelled. Entertainers that are supposed to perform during the celebration are in disarray. The ventriloquist has lost Rub-A-Dub, a duck that he performs his act with. The couple that performs magic tricks got into a fight and the girl has left.

Along with those dilemmas, there is the prostitute that relentlessly tries to come into the hotel. One of her former clients just so happens to be the Man of the Year for the deer club and she has a video of him doing the naked “Snake” dance on her cellphone. The Man Of the Year’s wife, Hotta, happens to be the ex-wife of Shindo-San, the manager of the Wow-Choten Hotel. There’s also Kenji, the bellboy that is quitting his job on New Year’s Eve and giving up on his dreams to become a singer. That is until Shindo-San asks him to work one more day as the concierge for a famous singer. To complicate matters further, the CEO of the Wow-Choten Hotel suddenly disappears but calls his staff asking them to find him and bring some cold cream!

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Movie Review : The Wow-Choten Hotel is a hilarious comedy, frenetic with the chaotic energy that exists during the New Year Eve season. The entire film consists of the two hours leading up to the hotel’s New Years Eve celebration, shot chronologically.

The cast of characters includes some of the more popular Japanese actors & actresses, many of whom play smaller parts. You, the former J-Pop singer and the lady that played the mother in Nobody Knows, plays Cherry Sakura, the washed up Jazz singer. Takako Matsu, who starred in such films as April Story and The Hidden Blade, plays Hanna the maid that was involved in the sex scandal with the Senator. Katori Shingo, the singer of the popular Japanese band SMAP, plays Kenji the busboy. Jô Odagiri, who starred in Scrap Heaven and La Maison de Himiko, is almost unrecognizable playing the withdrawn printer Ukon….and those were just the actors I recognized!

With all the craziness that occurs during the two hours before New Year’s Eve, there was never a dull moment in the film. In addition to the manic comedic nature of the film, The Wow-Choten Hotel includes some very poignant moments as we learn more about characters at the hotel. Some of the more touching moments would be with the deputy manager Shindo-San. When he runs into his ex-wife, Hotta, he boasts to her that he is going to be honored as the Man of the Year for Stage Directors. He tells her this because Hotta left him 15 years ago due to the fact that he was working in the theater and could never provide adequately for his family. What Shindo-San is not aware of is that the Man of the Year award is for stag (deer) enthusiast and Hotta’s current husband is being honored as the Man of the Year at that banquet. There is also Hana the maid that was romantically involved with the Senator and has a child from that relationship. While cleaning up for a messy patron in one of the penthouse suites, Hana tries on her jewelry and mink coat. A person barges into the room and mistakenly takes her for being the mistress of a wealthy corporate executive. These are just some of the compelling storylines in the Wow-Choten Hotel. Pretty much everybody in the film has a fascinating tale to tell and all their lives become intertwined as the minutes lead up the New Years celebration. Even the most cynical person will have a difficult time not becoming enthralled with these character’s lives and their predictaments.

The Wow-Choten Hotel is simply an awesome film that is 70% slapstick comedy and 30% heart-warming drama. As the camera follows the vast cast of characters at the Wow-Choten Hotel, you can’t help but being impressed by the film’s portrayal of a crazy night at the Wow-Chotel Hotel and its loveable cast of characters. Certainly The Wow-Choten Hotel will become one of my favorite movies to watch during the Christmas/New Years season.

Cast:
Koji Yakusho - Heikichi Shindo
Takako Matsu - Hana Takemoto
Koichi Sato - Katsutoshi Mutoda
Shingo Katori - Kenji Tadano
Ryoko Shinohara - Yoko the Call Girl
Keiko Toda - Tokiko Yabe
Katsuhisa Namase - Takashi Seo
Kumiko Aso - Naomi Ohara
You - Sakura Cherry
Joe Odagiri - Ukon (as Joe Odagiri)
Takuzo Kadono - Mamoru Hotta
Susumu Terajima - Jose Kochi
Kazuyuki Asano - Mamoru Jimbo
Yoshimasa Kondo - Naomasa Bando
Jiei Kabira - Tange


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2006 Movie Reviews, Japanese Movies, Movie Reviews |

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