"The trick is, you can’t fight it.You gotta accept it. You gotta fucking embrace your inner fucking strange, man. Just be fucking weird, you know? And when you do that, you bring who you are, never who they want. And that, my friend, is when it gets fun." - Willoughby
Two dialogue exchanges that define the film for me:
Jack Burton: What's in the flask, Egg? Magic potion?
Egg Shen: Yeah.
Jack Burton: Thought so, good. What do we do, drink it?
Egg Shen: Yeah!
Jack Burton: Good! Thought so.
---------------------------------------------------
Jack Burton: I don't get this at all. I thought Lo Pan...
Lo Pan: Shut up, Mr. Burton! You are not brought upon this world to get it!
James Hong 4 Ever.
The Royal Hotel was my first film screening of VIFF 2023 and what a perfect film to kick off the festival. I had not seen Kitty Green's previous films before going into the screening. This was owing to my own blindspots and lack of movie going over the past few years, but I will definitely be going through her back catalogue after watching this film.
Kitty starts off the film by pummeling and disorienting your senses via the dark room,…
