Movie Review - The Innkeepers

You might know Ti West from his 2009 film The House of the Devil which was fairly well received by horror fans who appreciated its subtle yet believable 80’s look and feel. If there’s one thing I repeatedly heard about that movie, it’s that it was slow moving and in the eyes of some took a while to get going. I enjoyed the slow nature of the storytelling in HOTD so was expecting good things from The Innkeepers.

The Innkeepers is a ghost story, pure and simple. It reminded me at times of “The Legend of Hell House” with it’s reliance on atmosphere and silence to draw the viewer into a feeling of impending doom. In a nutshell, The Innkeepers follows two staff members of a ‘soon to be closing down’ hotel who attempt to discover the rumoured haunted past of the hotel and the spirits who may or may not inhabit it. It’s a simple formula and that’s a good thing. To complicate a haunted house/hotel movie can be just as clique as leaving it simple and letting the dialogue and story speak for itself. The performers themselves are of a similar quality to West’s previous outings. Hit and miss you might say, but still capable of holding the film above a certain level for the most-part.

In the same way that HOTD did, The Innkeepers moves slowly and develops the relationships between the characters and the hotel. The certain quirks and nuances of the two leads are explored for a good while before the horror part of the film actually gets under way. Sara Paxton (Claire) and Pat Healy (Luke) inject humour into the mix to keep the leisurely pace of the film from becoming exasperating, this does help, but I still admit to checking my watch on a couple of occasions which I didn’t do during House Of The Devil. This confirmed early on for me that this wouldn’t be my favourite Ti West offering, but I kept with it and enjoyed the experience of the hotel itself and the silent scenes of the camera merely sweeping across the hallways and up and down staircases.

Claire and Jake at times interrupted my feeling of dread with comedy which was a little strange. It is only when Claire becomes more interested in following Jakes lead and trying to fathom the history of the hotel that things pick up. Jake is the ghost hunter wannabe who runs a mediocre website but it is Claire who really throws herself into the challenge of uncovering the possible haunting of the inn in which she works. The guests who occasionally appear at the hotel are fairly uninteresting, except for one old man who requests a particular room. I expected more weird and wonderful guests to appear but it didn’t happen. The old man and a “celebrity” who could apparently tap into the land of the ghosties were the only guests relevant to the tale and even they didn’t elicit a huge interest. The problem with The Innkeepers isn’t with its slow and precise nature, now a signature of director West, but more with its inappropriate lack of scares and lack of interesting traits among its sparse amount of characters. It’s running time of 101 minutes shocked me when I looked after I’d finished watching, I felt like I’d been sat there for over two hours.

Ti West is a director that I enjoy and his style is interesting but with The Innkeepers I found it to be all a little too familiar and lacking substance. I enjoyed the tone at times and the hotel itself was a fantastic setting for a ghost story. It felt, to me anyway, like it should have gone full throttle on occasion rather than making the decision to take a step back and slow it all down again. Questions remained unanswered and I am happy to not have most of them answered, I just felt some needed conclusions in order to fully round off the experience.

A director to keep an eye on for sure, but a film that I doubt I will go back to anytime soon. Disappointing,  though not by any means terrible, The Innkeepers felt like a girlfriend who kisses you for an hour with her hand on your crotch but then puts her coat on and leaves all of a sudden leaving you wondering why the last hour happened without a real conclusion.

Enjoyable at times but nothing groundbreaking.

2.5 out of 5.

Review - Liberal Arts

Okay, so we all know Josh Radnor from his many years as the "unlucky-in-love" lead, Ted, from popular sitcom 'How I Met Your Mother'. We might also know him from his first and only other directorial outing 'happythankyoumoreplease' from 2010. That was a cute, emotional and very enjoyable little indie charmer that showed Mr. Radnor had a flair for independent comedy drama and an ear for pretty realistic, though sometimes delayed, dialogue. Enjoyable, some might say passable, but still very much worth seeing.

So when news of Josh’s second time in the fabric backed, star emblazoned chair was confirmed I found myself reading up and making attempts to keep a close eye on this little project. A project that would become “Liberal Arts” and in turn become the best film that Josh Radnor has yet made.

I saw Liberal Arts on a Friday on its first showing in a theatre with only six more people, some quietly munching on popcorn but all obviously excited to see the film. I will say that in a quiet theatre setting with very few people to make noise is the nicest way to enjoy a film, but on it’s first showing on release day it was a little bit surprising that more people didn’t pick up a ticket to see something that I feel is a nice breath of fresh air in a blockbuster heavy season of film, a breath of independent cinema that welcomes you with humour, drama and an excellent cast.

The story, in a fairly large nutshell, tells of Jesse Fisher (Radnor), a thirty-five year old man who has been floating unexcitedly through the years that followed his university education where he studied English and History. He heads back to his old college stomping ground to see his favourite professor retire and to show his gratitude for said teachers’ effect on him in his youth. It is there that he meets Zibby (Elisabeth Olson), a sparky nineteen year old who enjoys her improv group and reads the occasional book, unapologetically I might add, about sparkly vampires, much to the dismay of Jesse, but I'm getting ahead of myself. They strike up a friendship and begin to spend time together drinking coffee, talking about college, books, relationships and all the things that two people about to lose their heads over their heels tend to talk about. Jesse begins to realise that things are getting a little serious and so he does the ‘age-math’ in which he realises that Zibby, though advanced and mature, is sixteen years his junior. This is a problem, yes, in the eyes of his professor friend too, it is a problem. I won’t go on because it would spoil things and this is a film to be enjoyed, not spoiled.

Radnor gives a heartfelt performance and is very likeable as the confused and disappointed-by-life guy, but at times I felt like I was going to see Neil Patrick Harris run on screen and label one of the scenes Legen, wait for it, dary. In other words, it felt like his previous characters from film and television were very similar to this one and while the character of Jesse isn’t a bad one or an unlikeable one it doesn’t seem to be a stretch for Mr. Director either. Still, this doesn’t stop the enjoyment.

Elisabeth Olson, as is becoming commonplace, is terrific here. Warm, funny, inviting and very authentic, she offers something seldom seen in romantic comedy these days, a strong will without being hard faced and a personality that wont apologise for opinion and emotion. She plays the part brilliantly and when she isn’t on screen you tend to wish she was. The smaller parts are also worth mentioning. Richard Jenkins plays the reluctant retiree professor with a hint of sarcasm and wit while also giving a depth and sadness to a role that is not there for very long. Allison Janney as the former professor who hates gooey-hearted un-manly men is a fun addition too. Zac Effron is a bizarre choice for the hippy-ish, peace and love-er that gives advice in the form of t-shirt slogan like life affirmations, but he incites a laugh or two so it doesn’t really matter how unnecessary he actually is. Elizabeth Reaser plays a librarian for a short time two and is another warm heart in what is a very solid cast.

I laughed, felt sadness and just thoroughly enjoyed ‘Liberal Arts’. There’s nothing offensive here, and I suppose there’s nothing ground-breaking either. It depends on your outlook really as to whether or not you feel like you’ve heard this story before, but with the depth and credibility that the characters have it is hard to say you’ve seen anything quite like it.

 It looks pretty, sounds pretty (it even has a glorious classical score) and most of all it leaves the viewer, or me at least, with thoughts of life, love and the future, in a positive way for once.

4 out of 5