The Uchōten Hotel (2006)

Original title

THE 有頂天ホテル

Directed by

Kōki Mitani

Genre

comedy film

Country

Japan

Runtime

2h 16m

Rating

6.2 of 10 from 35 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

On New Year's Eve, staff and guests at a five star Tokyo hotel get tangled in a series of mix-ups and misunderstandings over two hours. A hotel manager, a chambermaid, a disgraced politician, and a bellhop with musical dreams are among the characters whose lives briefly intersect.

comicfast-pacedwhimsicalchaoticlightheartedfarce-likequirkyupbeat

What happens

The Uchōten Hotel (Japanese: THE 有頂天ホテル, Hepburn: THE Uchōten Hoteru) (also known as Suite Dreams, The Wow-Choten Hotel, or Suite Hotel) is a 2006 Japanese comedy film written and directed by Kōki Mitani. The film is set in a five star Tokyo hotel on New Year's Eve and follows the misadventures of various hotel staff and guests between 10 p.m. and midnight. The film is reminiscent of the Hollywood screwball comedies of the 1930s and 1940s, and explicitly references the 1932 film Grand Hotel, whose plot also followed the interlinked lives of various characters in a fictional hotel over a short period. Cast members include Kōji Yakusho (Heikichi Shindo, the hotel accommodation manager), Takako Matsu (Hana Takemoto, the chamber-maid with a case of mistaken identity), Kōichi Satō (Katsutoshi Mutōda, the disgraced politician), Shingo Katori (Kenji Tadano, the bell boy with musical aspirations), Ryoko Shinohara (Yōko, the call girl), Keiko Toda (Tokiko Yabe, the deputy accommodation manager), Katsuhisa Namase (Takashi Seo), Kumiko Asō (Naomi Ohara), YOU (Cherry Sakura), and Toshiyuki Nishida (Zenbu Tokugawa, the aging enka star). The film was nominated for 11 Japanese Academy Awards, but did not win in any of the categories. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

More like this

• The Uchoten Hotel / The Wow-Choten Hotel / Suite Dreams (2006)
• Pretty Maid Café (2006)
• Gigolo Wannabe (2006)
• 男はソレを我慢できない (2006)
• Kamome Shokudo (2006)
• Double Trouble (2008)
• Big Dreams Little Tokyo (2006)
• Lost in Tokyo (2006)