Filmic Friday 225: Bad Times at the El Royale

Sometimes, you watch a movie and think why didn't this explode?! This movie, Bad Times at the El Royale, is one of those movies.

It's just so... cool!

Bad Times is a movie about people who make maybe not the best choices all ending up in the same place. A priest (who isn't a priest - not really a spoiler, it's easy to see coming), an African American singer, a vacuum salesman (who also isn't actually a salesman, which you can also see coming from a mile away), a shady hippy, a Very Bad Man, a Very Messed-Up Girl, and a squirrely busboy all end up in a hotel that straddles the border of California and Nevada. The El Royale has seen better days and worse people, but these people are possibly the most important.

"Father Flynn" and Darlene Sweet

Once upon a time, a man buried something in one of the rooms. Father Flynn wants to dig it up.

Once upon a time, Darlene Sweet thought she could make it big singing. She just wants to get to her next gig and sing another day.

Hapless, hopeless Miles Miller

Miles wants peace and to keep his job, no matter how horrid it can be, but more than that, he craves absolution. The appearance of a priest is an occasion for both hope and horror.

"Laramie Seymour Sullivan" on the left.
Do not be fooled.

Emily Summerspring - wild child.

 Emily Summerspring wants to do the right thing, even if it really, really doesn't seem so.

I said not to be fooled.
Meet Dwight Broadbeck.

Mild-mannered (and casually racist) salesman by day. Intense G-Man in private. Dwight Broadbeck will do what he thinks is right whether it is or not.

Sweet little Rosie (not pictured) wants to go "home", despite "home" being closer to what a sane person would consider hell.

Charismatic, cold, killer Billy Lee.

 Leader of a band of misfits and rejects and murderers alike, Billy Lee wants what's his. Even though the what is a who, obviously underaged, and this is not okay.

Once upon a time, something was hidden and lost.

Everyone's looking for something at the El Royale. The movie is about everyone looking, but whether or not they find what they're looking for? That's the journey.

It's a really, really good journey.

It's also a beautiful one! Seriously - everything is beautifully lit, every color bringing more to a scene (rather than detracting from it, as many films tend to, I think). It's beautifully scored - music from the 1950s to the late 1960s providing a glorious backdrop for the action to play against. The story (or stories) is/are compelling. The action is used as a way of making sure you're still paying attention (up until the climax), and everything you see or hear is rewarded later.

And yes.

The El Royale is, in fact, some sort of pervert hotel.

Go Enjoy Something!
FC

(I didn't want to use the trailer, because it's a very bad trailer)