The Motel

ImaginAsian Pictures | Release Date: June 28, 2006

6.9	USER SCORE Generally favorable reviews based on 17 Ratings

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ChadS.Mar 20, 2007

What "The Motel" has in common with a seemingly disparate film like Justin Lin's "Better Luck Tomorrow" is that the universality of people begets a common ground that preordains genre as largely being colorblind. This little gem is more What "The Motel" has in common with a seemingly disparate film like Justin Lin's "Better Luck Tomorrow" is that the universality of people begets a common ground that preordains genre as largely being colorblind. This little gem is more of a coming-of-age film than it's an Asian-American one, but make no mistake, "The Motel" is a quietly important indie that knowingly acknowledges, then eschews the stereotypes which hinder Asian-American characters from being real people. "The Motel" opens at a Chinese restaurant, but interestingly, we never go inside it. This occupational staple of the "Oriental" is where the protagonist's dream girl(Christine, as played by Samantha Futerman) works. We follow Ernest(Jeffrey Chyau) to his family business, and it's not a Chinese laundry service. Like the characters in "Better Luck Tomorrow", there's more to Ernest and Christine than being mere bookworms. The boy is interested in porn. The girl likes to drink and smoke. It's brilliant how these polluting influences prevent "The Motel" from being too sweet, too easy to love. This film smartly shows how pornography retards the relationships between men and women. Even though the rocky relations between mother and son ends in mutual atonement, predictably mawkish, replete with tears; and too much time is devoted to Ernest's mentorship with a Korean motel-guest(Sung Kang), "The Motel" is most definitely worth checking out. Or is that checking in?… Expand

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JoeK.Oct 14, 2006

Great first feature! Not for the type of audience that needs everything spelled out. Lots of stuff going on in there. I've seen it a couple times now and I keep finding new layers. Definitely worth seeing at least once.

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sistertycoonAug 1, 2006

Excellent acting and directon by robert wooosie. Go see it. I loved it. Could have been better but its really fun.

0 of 0 users found this helpful