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The Royal Hotel

The 100 Most Anticipated Movies of 2023

The Royal Hotel

2023

Kitty Green

Julia Garner, Jessica Henwick, Hugo Weaving, Toby Wallace ...

5.7

526

Drama. Mystery After running out of money while backpacking in a tiny, male-dominated town in the Australian outback, two friends resort to a working holiday at the Royal Hotel. When the locals behavior starts crossing the line, the girls find themselves trapped in an unnerving situation that grows rapidly out of their control.

	Media	Author	Review
		David Ehrlich IndieWire	"Kitty Green re-teams with Julia Garner for another masterful story about the inescapability of the male gaze, this one much pulpier and more explosive than the last"
		Gregory Ellwood The Playlist	"It goes without saying that leaving something to the imagination can often work wonders for a thriller. We just wonder if a few more crumbs might have led to a slightly more satisfying conclusion."
		Tim Grierson Screendaily	"Kitty Green delivers a further devastating drama on toxic masculinity (...) Garner and co-star Jessica Henwick navigate the picture’s mixture of drama, suspense and horror superbly"
		Esther Zuckerman Vanity Fair	"Laughter and wails are almost interchangeable. That tension makes the film excruciating but exciting"
		Sheri Linden The Hollywood Reporter	"A well-etched story on dread overload"
		Isabella Soares Collider	"Although the film does end with a bang, these missteps leading up to the resolution make the final scene bittersweet"
		Tomris Laffly The Wrap	"Garner and Jessica Henwick lead the way with guts and muscle in this unnerving and atmospheric genre exercise"
		Jessica Kiang Los Angeles Times	"The central terror of Green's ferociously tense, intelligent movie is the terror of recognition"
		Benjamin Lee The Guardian	"It's everything and nothing at once although for a while, it's really something (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"
		Amy Nicholson Variety	"Green [has] thought everything out, and planned it so that every scene in 'The Royal Hotel' is as gripping as it is pointed"
		Stephen A Russell Time Out Australia	"Michael Latham’s head-spinning cinematography and Jed Palmer’s similarly unnerving score add disconcerting layers. Garner is excellent (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"
		James Verniere Boston Herald	"Garner and Henwick make a great pair. Alice in Aussie Toxic Male-land"
		Chris Bumbray JoBlo	"A mostly terrific thriller with an ending that goes a little overboard"
		Richard Roeper Chicago Sun-Times	"Julia Garner and Jessica Henwick do impressive work (...) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 4)"
		Johnny Oleksinski New York Post	"A chillingly spot-on depiction of how, in dank rooms filled with belligerent drunks, the line between a jolly time and a dangerous one is treacherously thin (...) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 4)"
		Siddhant Adlakha Mashable	"Despite Green's deft tonal control and masterful genre transformations, its victory rings hollow at a moment when artistic precision matters most"
		Greg Nussen Slant	"[It] shows its political hand as a feminist rallying cry (...) a necessary, if dreadful, marvel to behold (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"
		Leila Latif IGN	"Julia Garner and Jessica Henwick are exceptional (...) Green further distinguishes herself as one of the most exciting and provocative feminist filmmakers around"
		Marya E. Gates rogerebert.com	"Green continues to establish herself as an insightful chronicler of the minor yet devastating terrors of violent masculinity that many women endure everywhere they go (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"
		C.J. Prince The Globe and Mail	"It’s unfortunate that The Royal Hotel’s screenplay tends to needlessly reinforce information (...) 'The Royal Hotel' functions much better when it restrains than lets loose"
		Pete Hammond Deadline	"Green really demonstrates a sharp filmmaking talent, confidently handling the escalating drama, and especially the horrors of too much alcohol, with expert skill"
		Wendy Ide The Guardian	"Nerve-shredding outback thriller (...) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"
		Júlia Olmo Cineuropa	"Kitty Green presents a powerful genre thriller about the alliance of two women in the face of fear and constant threat"

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