A quite splendid and subtle arrangement of Men at Work’s Down Under opens THE ROYAL HOTEL, Kitty Green’s follow up feature after the subtly sinister, The Assistant.
American backpackers, Hanna and Liv, have partied the life out of their travelling money and, with no jobs available in Sydney, it’s either return home or take on a temporary job at The Royal Hotel located in an outback South Australian mining town.
On arrival, they discover woke in fright, no wi-fi, unreliable hot water, and a beer swilling, blokey environment laced with threat and menace. The men here have come to dig holes and make their fortune. But it’s not just soil their sinking, it’s schooners, and their souls.
The pub, a family heirloom faded and tattered, is owned by Billy, a beer sozzled bully, played to paralytic perfection by Hugo Weaving.
While Liv embraces the place, considering it an adventure, Hanna is less impressed, staggered at the sexist palaver of the pub patrons.
Three blokes particularly feature in Hanna and Liv’s down under out back adventure: Matty, Teeth and Dolly.
After making a decidedly bad first impression, Matty, a garrulous, cheeky and charismatic fella makes a concerted effort to flirt and woo Hanna. Teeth, a more taciturn barfly, is smitten by Liv, and the dead-eyed Dolly is a vile predator, the more toxic of the trio, a user and abuser, a perverse coercer.
Toby Wallace as Matty has all the attributes of an alpha male but balanced with at least a shred of respectful decency. He has enough self control and decency to curb the compulsion of passion when consent is denied.
Daniel Henshall’s Dolly is less decent, a powder keg psychopath with fuse fizzing menace in measured degrees. More controlling than controlled. James Frecheville’s Teeth is shyly insular, just shy of being an Incel, a misguided gallant, awash with low self esteem, impetuous and confused.
Julia Garner as Hanna and Jessica Henwick as Liv are terrific as travelling companions with contrasting views managing the complexities of conflict within and outside their relationship.
Leah Popple’s production design is excellent, creating a dilapidated piss elegance to the pub, with its shelves of bottles of booze and preserved serpents, the burnished bar, the bung door fridge and dishwasher, its no frills bedrooms.
Cinematographer Michael Latham lights and lenses both interiors and exteriors with aplomb, the darkness and light of the narrative given pictorial resonance.
With a screenplay co penned by Kitty Green and Oscar Redding, THE ROYAL HOTEL is inspired by the feature documentary Hotel Coolgardie directed by Pete Gleeson. Like it’s progenitor, it has the power to disturb.
View the trailer HERE