Eccentric fun in Bad Times at the El Royale
Photo: 20th Century Fox
THIS slightly eccentric, totally enjoyable period noir is described by it’s writer/director Drew Goddard as “a love letter to music”.
Not only does it feature iconic songs from the fifties and sixties, we also get to hear one of its stars perform live on screen.
She’s Cynthia Erivo who plays Darlene, a backing singer who’s determined to make it solo.
She arrives at the El Royale Hotel in 1969 at the same time as Father Daniel Flynn (Jeff Bridges, beautifully grizzled as usual).
In the lobby is Laramie Seymour Sullivan (Jon Hamm), supposedly a vacuum salesman who’s finding it difficult to raise anyone at the desk.
Eventually Miles (Lewis Pullman) emerges dishevelled from the office, a bit dismayed to find that a priest is planning to stay.
The fourth arrival is Emily (Dakota Johnson) who comes with attitude.
None of these characters are who they appear to be, except maybe Darlene.
There is a back story to each of them which reveals why they’ve come to this strange hotel which straddles the border between Nevada and California.
A prelude hints at buried treasure.
The hotel – a dream job for production designer Martin Whist and cinematographer Seamus McGarvey – has it’s own secrets.
It used to be a hotspot for Tahoe swells, but it’s fallen on hard times since it lost its gambling license.
But as you’ll see it’s found other ways to make money.
Arriving late in the film is Billiy Lee, played by Chris Hemsworth, relishing his role as a Charles Manson-like cult leader who is after one of his flock who has been kidnapped.
She’s Rose (Cailee Spaeny). Drew Goddard, whose only other feature as director was the bloodthirsty The Cabin in the Woods, is in his element here, toying with his characters with remorseless playfulness.
It’s such fun this film.