If You're in the Mood for Experimentation

...check out (or into) Mike Figgis' 2001 movie, Hotel. It is largely improvised in Venice with some really amazing actors including Salma Hayek, Julian Sands, David Schwimmer, Saffron Burrows and Lucy Liu and it is full of very effective video experimentation and unusual narrative devices. The plot centres on a film production company making a Dogme version of the Duchess of Malfi on location in Venice. The depiction of the artists is wonderful and Hayek as a vain entertainment reporter is hilarious. And surprisingly, the snippets of their Duchess of Malfi are very moving.

A movie like this in the hands of a hack would be unwatchable. As it is, it's merely unsatisfying. You can't really make up a movie this intricate on the fly and hope that the plot threads and mysteries will all magically come together by the end of the shoot. But Figgis gets great performances out of everybody and creates a sustained mix of comedy, horror and satire as wrapped up in an aesthetically pleasing package.

Though I did sleep through about ten minutes of it and Snake and Tutu left the room entirely...

Don't say I didn't warn you...