4 stars
the average rating for this movie is only 3 stars but movielens algorithm correctly predicted 4 stars for me - good job MovieLens !
this is a story about an actual retard’s love for a prostitute ( Milla Jovovich ) who both live in the same building, which is called " the million dollar hotel " but is actually some kind of low income housing project.
the plot revolves around the investigation ( by Mel Gibson ) of a death of a son of a Jewish Billionaire who renounced his family’s wealth to live with the poor at " the million dollar hotel " …
the retard and the prostitute are 2 of the 3 main suspects as they were both close to the victim while the 3rd suspect is the victim’s room mate.
this death of the Billionaire’s son occurs before the movie starts, and we only know that he died falling off the roof of " the million dollar hotel " but we don’t know if it was murder or suicide, but it is presumed to be murder …
and the movie actually starts with the retard committing suicide by jumping off the same roof …
i can see why the average rating for this movie is only 3 stars - it isn’t particularly gripping, it is slow paced, there is no nudity at all nor even a real sex scene - you never really worry about any of the characters because none of them have any future anyway, except Mel Gibson’s character who has a Fiance but you never really get a feeling that he is in any real danger …
and the fact that the movie starts with the protagonist committing suicide is even further anticlimactic …
but it’s a beautiful story of love and friendship that isn’t childish or cheesy or cringe …
i feel this movie is probably under-rated but i’m not going to put it into the thread about movies that were better than i expected because in fact MovieLens did correctly predict that i would like it.
this movie is free with Amazon Prime in high quality ! if you have Amazon Prime IMO that’s how you should watch it.
the movie starts with the retard jumping off the roof and saying " after i jumped i realized that life is perfect but somehow i never realized it while i was alive " … and that’s basically the theme of the movie - a sort of hidden beauty to life, the idea that you can choose to see beauty where others see nothing.
but it’s never preachy about this, it attempts to make you feel this message …
ultimately i respect this film and recommend it but you have to understand the reason i watched it was for Milla Jovovich in her prime and if that isn’t something that appeals to you then you probably shouldn’t watch it …
yes Mel Gibson is in this movie too but even though some posters try to play up this fact his role is really not that important - we never even get to see his fiance - he only talks to her on the phone. to put it bluntly - this isn’t a Mel Gibson movie - it’s a Mila Jovovich movie. even though she is not the protagonist the movie is entirely about her.
compared to “Tirza” for example the movie is far less intense - it never gets uncomfortable nor even sexual, not to mention there is no pedophilia or incest ( and just barely some prostitution ) - but it still has that sort of an authentic intimate feeling which i appreciate.
not sure what the reason for the R rating is since there is neither nudity nor graphic violence and in the only “sex” scene you only see half of Jovovich’s face and none of her body and she isn’t even naked to begin with. i guess the reason for the R rating is the psychological aspects of Prostitution and Suicide, which admittedly is something children probably don’t need to think about …