A hotel on a state line hides secrets that expose the morality of strangers.
In short: In 2018, Drew Goddard released a neo-noir thriller set in a hotel straddling the California-Nevada border. The story follows six strangers whose lives collide during one night in the late 1960s. As secrets emerge, the film uses its unique setting to explore deep questions about faith, redemption, and human nature.
The El Royale hotel, a fictional establishment inspired by the real-life Cal Neva Lodge & Casino, serves as a stage for a complex ensemble drama. The film’s narrative is built around the idea that the hotel acts as a purgatory where characters confront their pasts. The state line dividing the building is not merely a geographic detail; it functions as a symbolic crossroads, with different characters interacting with the border in ways that reflect their personal moral standing.
Director Drew Goddard developed the project as a spec script, meticulously integrating 1960s music into the screenplay to serve as an emotional chorus. The production was marked by a commitment to practical filmmaking, including the construction of a perfectly symmetrical hotel set in Burnaby. This design allowed for intricate, long-take sequences, such as a five-minute tracking shot that required months of planning and dozens of rehearsals to capture the hotel's hidden corridors and one-way mirrors.
While the film received praise for its cinematography, musical score, and performances, it struggled to find a wide audience, earning $31.8 million against a $32 million budget. Critics were divided on the film's pacing and structure, with some viewing it as a masterful deconstruction of genre tropes and others seeing it as a unique, unpredictable experiment. Ultimately, the film remains a study of the human condition, challenging viewers to consider whether goodness is a binary state or something more ambiguous.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Bad Times at the El Royale
- Also: Wikidata — Bad Times at the El Royale · CC0
- Also: Wikidata — Bad Times at the El Royale – Original Motion Picture Score · CC0
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