Hotel Refinement

(feature film)

When an ill-conceived heist goes awry, amateur criminals Andrew and Doris make a run for it, leaving their partner Hayden behind. After months of slowly making their way down through a series of run-down motels alongside the California coast, they end up at the hauntingly mysterious Hotel Refinement. However, their relief is short-lived as their increasingly prolongated stay begins to warp reality, dream, and memory into surreal and nightmarish visions of torture and Guantanamo Bay they both are vehemently trying to escape. Meanwhile Hayden, trapped in prison serving out a short sentence for his role in the heist, slowly plots his revenge against Doris and Andrew aided by his enigmatic and possibly fictitious cellmate. Hotel Refinement is a surreal, oneiric neo-noir that explores human fascination with the intersection of violence, crime, and dreams.

director: Robert Clapsadle

https://www.hotelrefinement.com/

 “Though the story takes place in Los Angeles and a northern California otherworld, the keen, expressive cinematography reveals an intimate portrait of place as it exudes the definitive vibe of Oakland and Alameda, where it was shot. Much akin to the philosophical meditation brilliantly constructed in Los Angeles Plays Itself, the scenes and settings of Clapsadle’s visual stylization create gorgeous backdrops that however cinematically resplendent they drench the screen, are linked with a continuity of dislocation in which the characters attempt to find destinations unknown.”

- Why if We Go, We Say We Stay