Lynn Belvedere

HOTEL COOLGARDIE : A PROVOCATIVE NEW AUSTRALIAN DOCUMENTARY

Pete Gleeson’s  HOTEL COOLGARDIE depicts a real life Australian working holiday misadventure of two Finnish women, Lena and Steph, as a result of  being robbed of all of their holiday savings in Bali.

The duo get an authentic outback experience, working for three months as under-trained bartenders at the Denver City Hotel, the only pub in the remote and isolated gold mining town of Coolgardie in Western Australia, some  500 kilometres east of Perth.

The two young women are considered willing prey, and relentlessly have to say no to every verbal request for sex as they  fight off aggressive, unwarranted sexual advances from the hot-blooded and permanently drunk male clientele.

Australian Responsible Service of Alcohol laws are continuously ignored by the hotel licensee and the hotel staff. The drunken locals display obvious signs of excessive alcohol consumption and alcohol poisoning, the sure signs being talking loudly, coarsely, incessantly and with heavily slurred speech.

Fortunately for the audience, this 83 minute Cinéma Vérité experience has  had 81 hours of footage omitted, since the filmmakers shot more than 90 hours of footage whilst following these two young women during early 2012.

If only someone had adequately trained these two women, about how to correctly pour a draught beer into a clean glass, by holding the glass at a 45-degree angle whilst pouring the beer.

“The girls soon realise that to meet expectations out here, they’ll need to do more than just serve drinks.”

Their working holiday quickly deteriorates into an unbearable test of endurance. My thought was that without the constantly attentive film crew being around, it was more than likely that these two women  would have been sexually assaulted.

The online release of the preview trailer for the movie sparked a torrent of protest and criticism from the locals.  One suspects it has touched a nerve. No doubt this documentary won’t do much for tourism for the Coolgardie Goldfields

HOTEL COOLGARDIE will screen at selected cinemas around Australia from June 15.

Australian Classification:- rated MA15+

Hotel Coolgardie THE FILM 2017 Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nop_Jq9M_R8

http://www.hotelcoolgardiethefilm.com/

https://www.facebook.com/hotelcoolgardiethefilm

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5723774/combined

 

Published by Lynn Belvedere

Once we were old enough, my parents took the whole family to the Sydney CBD cinemas every week. Thus began a lifetime interest, in going to the cinema every week, and became a passionate cinephile by watching all those very heavily edited ''Australian Film Censorship Board'' true cinéaste versions of brand new release ''Cinematograph Films''. Greater Union always gave my father (who worked in Cinema Distribution Exhibition) guest double movie passes, to every first-night ''red carpet Opening Night'' at The State Theatre Cinema at 49 Market Street. Up until his death, my dad always received ''two house seats'' for every Opening Night performance events at the Theatre Royal SYDNEY and at Her Majesty's Theatre SYDNEY. As a child, when mum choose not to go, I often went with him, to those live performance events. As a young child, I remember being taken for each new show, at both The New Theatre at 60 Sussex Street, and the Phillip Street Theatre when located at 150 Elizabeth Street, and for classical music concerts at Sydney Town Hall. = = = ★★★★★ = = = Being happy is a choice, and I have always viewed my life, as material ready be made into a series of amazing tentpole movies. My New Years Resolution is kept every year: ''Get to see/review five new live theatre shows each week, and get to see/review six new cinema movies each week'', plus is one of the Australian Cinema Pioneers, and apparently have seen far too much already, but always wanting to experience more and more each year. I am also able to do almost everything that I enjoy doing. Yes, I do have a great daytime job in I.T. as ''Software Design Project Manager'', PLUS each evening until quite late - - - Australian Cinematograph Films historical censorship consultant - product-placement consultant - mystery-shopper consultant - playwright, writer, author, director, producer, photographer, cinematographer, color-grader, subtitles proofreader - arts/ drama/ music/ film critic and judge, journalist, member FIPRESCI & FCCA & AFCA, member AACTA accredited film reviewer-critic-writer, accredited IMDB.COM critic-reviewer-author, projectionist, plus an innovative iconoclast - - - ★★★★★ LYNN BELVEDERE ★★★★★ - - - [usr 5] - - -