Tim Roth leads an impressive ensemble in a four-part comedy that looks better than ever on 4K UHD, even if the stories never quite come together.
Once upon a time, four up-and-coming filmmakers met on the film festival circuit, and they became friends. Then one of them had the idea of having each of them write and direct a vignette about a hotel with the bellhop as the central character. The premise was that each room was a separate story and had different looks and feels to them, but that the bellhop would be in each one. Eventually, this idea came to fruition and thus 1995's Four Rooms was born. While the movie was a critical and box office flop, Kino Lorber has decided to remaster it and release it in 4K.
Ted (Tim Roth; The Hateful Eight) is the new bellhop in the Mon Signor Hotel. It's New Year's Eve and the hotel is packed, keeping Ted busy. In the Honeymoon Suite (The Missing Ingredient - director Allison Anders [Gas Food Lodging]), a coven of witches tries to resurrect their goddess, who is the victim of a spell. In room 404 (The Wrong Man - Alexandre Rockwell [In the Soup]), Ted becomes part of a fantasy hostage situation where the husband accuses Ted of sleeping with the man's wife. The third vignette, room 309 (The Misbehavers - Robert Rodriguez [Sin City]), entails a man paying Ted $500 to watch his children. However, when they misbehave, things get out of hand. Finally, the Penthouse (The Man From Hollywood - Quentin Tarantino [Pulp Fiction]) is occupied by a famous director and his friends who ask Ted to chop off one of their pinkies if he fails to light a lighter ten times in a row.
The best part of this film is, by far, the cast. Besides Roth, who does a terrific job tying everything together, cast members include Lili Taylor (The Conjuring), Ione Skye (Say Anything), Madonna (Desperately Seeking Susan), Jennifer Beals (Flashdance), Antonio Banderas (Desperado), and Bruce Willis (Die Hard). Tarantino also cast himself in the vignette he directed. Supporting cast members do well also, and together they make a powerful ensemble.
The 2160p resolution is a major upgrade from both the DVD and Blu-ray versions, and it is easy to see why. There is little artifacting or graininess to the picture, making details sharp and clean. The color palette, while mostly muted, has good tonal quality to it.
The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 is fine but doesn't offer anything truly extraordinary. There is decent range in the audio, and the surround sound speakers offer some level of involvement, though there isn't a ton that can be done to an audio track that is just over 30 years old.
The combo pack includes both the 4K and Blu-ray discs and several extras, some new, some previously released. The extras are NEW: Audio Commentary by Film Historian/Writer Julie Kirgo and Writer/Filmmaker Peter Hankoff, Room Service: Interview with Actor Tim Roth, The Diary of Room 309: Interview with Writer/Director Robert Rodriguez, Controlled Havoc: Interview with Actress Tamlyn Tomita, An Insecure Man: Interview with Writer/Director Alexandre Rockwell, A Dangerous Room: Interview with Actress Jennifer Beals, Getting Witchy: Audio Interview with Writer/Director Allison Anders; ARCHIVAL: Four Directors, Four Friends, Four Rooms: Archival Documentary with Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, Allison Anders, Alexandre Rockwell, Lawrence Bender and Antonio Banderas, Four Rooms Featurette, US Theatrical Trailer, and German Theatrical Trailer.
While, in theory, the concept sounds like something unique and interesting, the execution of bringing together four completely different and unique stories doesn't work all that well. There isn't any flow, so the whole film seems very disjointed and choppy. Of the vignettes, Rodriguez's is the best, followed by Tarantino's, Rockwell's, and finally Anders', but honestly, none of them are great, and the film suffers from a lack of cohesiveness.
Grade: C
