Four Rooms
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Four Rooms | |
 |
|
| Directed by | Allison Anders Alexandre Rockwell Quentin Tarantino Robert Rodriguez |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Lawrence Bender |
| Written by | Allison Anders Alexandre Rockwell Quentin Tarantino Robert Rodriguez |
| Starring | Tim Roth Madonna Valeria Golino Jennifer Beals Antonio Banderas Tamlyn Tomita Bruce Willis Quentin Tarantino Marisa Tomei |
| Music by | Combustible Edison Esquivel |
| Cinematography | Rodrigo García Buillermo Navarro Phil Parmet Andrzej Sekula |
| Editing by | Margie Goodspeed Elena Maganini Sally Menke Robert Rodriguez |
| Studio | A Band Apart |
| Distributed by | Miramax Films |
| Release date(s) | December 25, 1995 |
| Running time | 102 min. |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $200 |
Four Rooms is a 1995 anthology film telling four stories set in a Los Angeles hotel on New Year's Eve. Tim Roth stars as the principal character of the frame tale; he also takes part to a greater or lesser degree in the four stories, which feature Quentin Tarantino, Antonio Banderas and Madonna, among others.
The movie was directed by Allison Anders, Alexandre Rockwell, Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino with each of them directing one segment of the film. Original music by Combustible Edison.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The film opens with Sam, an elderly bellhop, instructing the newcomer Ted, about his job before retiring on New Year's Eve.
[edit] Honeymoon Suite - The Missing Ingredient
- Written and directed by Allison Anders
Now the bellhop, Ted assists a number of unusual women transport their bags up to the honeymoon suite. He learns that they are a coven of witches, brewing a potion to reverse a spell placed on their goddess forty years ago. In order to create the potion, each witch must place an ingredient into a large cauldron during a ritual. However, one of the witches has failed to bring sperm and is now charged by the other witches to obtain it. The witch manages to seduce an initially reluctant Ted and has sex with him in the cauldron. After he leaves, the witches complete the ritual and the goddess emerges from the cauldron.
[edit] Room 404 - The Wrong Man
- Written and directed by Alexandre Rockwell
Two drunken party guests call room service to get some ice. They are confused about whether they are on the fourth or the fifth but eventually direct Ted to room 404, where he finds himself in the middle of fantasy hostage situation between a husband and wife. Siegfried, the husband, angrily accuses Ted (whom he calls Theodore) of having slept with his wife, Angela. At gun point, Ted is forced to participate in the scenario, without knowing what is real or fantasy. At one point, Ted is stuck in a bath room window and one of the drunken party guests appears in the window upstairs and almost hits Ted with his vomit. Eventually, Ted escapes just when the other drunken party guests appears, looking for room 404 and is greeted by Siegfried in the same manner.
[edit] Room 309 - The Misbehavers
- Written and directed by Robert Rodriguez
A husband and wife go out to a New Year's Eve party and leave their two children in the hotel. Ted is paid $500 to keep an eye on the children by the father, who gives them the stern warning not to misbehave. As Ted is responsible for the entire hotel, he is unable to actually stay in the room with the children, but instead instructs the children to amuse themselves by watching television. After Ted leaves, the siblings quickly begin to squabble and proceed to both explore and vandalize the room, exploding a bottle of champagne in the process. The children call Ted on the phone to ask to turn off the adult television channel and for toothbrushes, at which point he delivers them stale crackers and milk and attempts unsuccessfully to put them to bed. After being summoned back to the room once more, Ted stumbles into a scene of mass chaos, and finds the source of the terrible odor in the room, a dead prostitute stuffed under the mattress. While Ted tries to quell the chaos in the room, the children's parents reenter the room and ask "Did they misbehave?"
After this, an unsettled Ted calls his boss, Betty, to complain about the events. Betty fell asleep during a party in her room but Ted finally gets her on the phone and announces his resignation. However, the two are interrupted by a call from the penthouse.
This story line created the basis for Rodriguez's later Spy Kids films
[edit] Penthouse - The Man from Hollywood
- Written and directed by Quentin Tarantino
The penthouse is currently being occupied by the famous director Chester Rush. Ted is asked to deliver a block of wood, a doughnut, a ball of twine, three nails, a club sandwich, a bucket of ice and a hatchet. After getting acquainted with Chester and his friends, Ted is asked to take part in a challenge: Chester's friend Norman bet him that he can light his Zippo cigarette lighter ten times in a row. If he succeeds, he wins Chester's car, but if he fails, he loses his pinky finger. Ted is charged to act as an impartial "hatchet man" and cut off Chester's friend's finger, should he fail. Ted initially tries to leave but a $100 bill convinces him to stay and another $1000 finally persuade him to play the assigned role. Norman fails on the first try, his finger is chopped off and Ted immediately leaves with the money. While the credits are rolling, we see the frantic rush of Chester and company running to get the friend to a hospital.
[edit] Linking
The four segments are shown in chronological order, except for The Misbehavers, the events of which span a longer time frame and precede and succeed the events of The Wrong Man.
There is little linkage between the segments, though Ted hangs up the two cherries received The Missing Ingredient at the beginning of The Misbehavers, echoes the witches' ritual by the expression "weird voodoo thing" in The Wrong Man and recalls the events of the preceding three segments when calling his boss. A strange telephone call in The Wrong Man is explained in the The Misbehavers and Angela from The Wrong Man reappears in the final segment.
[edit] Cast
| Segment 1 Honeymoon Suite |
Segment 3 Room 309 |
Segment 2 Room 404 |
Segment 4 Penthouse |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tim Roth as Ted the Bellhop | |||
| Valeria Golino as Athena | Antonio Banderas as Man | David Proval as Sigfried | Quentin Tarantino as Chester Rush |
| Madonna as Elspeth | Tamlyn Tomita as Wife | Jennifer Beals as Angela | |
| Alicia Witt as Kiva | Lana McKissack as Sarah | Paul Skemp as Real Theodore | Paul Calderon as Norman |
| Sammi Davis as Jezebel | Danny Verduzco as Juancho | Lawrence Bender as Long Hair Yuppie Scum |
Bruce Willis as Leo (uncredited) |
| Lili Taylor as Raven | Patricia Vonne as Corpse | ||
| Ione Skye as Eva | Salma Hayek as TV dancing girl |
Quinn Thomas Hellerman as Baby Bellhop |
Kimberly Blair as Hooker (uncredited) |
| Amanda de Cadenet as Diana | |||
| Marisa Tomei as Margaret | |||
| Kathy Griffin as Betty | |||
| Julie McClean as Left Redhead | |||
| Laura Rush as Right Redhead | |||
[edit] Soundtrack
| Four Rooms: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
|||||
| Soundtrack by various artists | |||||
| Released | 1995 | ||||
| Genre | Lounge music, soundtrack | ||||
| Length | 49.20 | ||||
| Label | Elektra/Asylum | ||||
| Producer | Mark Mothersbaugh Carl Plaster Combustible Edison |
||||
| Professional reviews | |||||
| Robert Rodriguez film soundtrack chronology | |||||
|
|||||
| Quentin Tarantino film soundtrack chronology | |||||
|
|||||
The soundtrack to Four Rooms features a score composed and performed by contemporary lounge music band Combustible Edison, co-produced by Mark Mothersbaugh. Additional music is by Juan García Esquivel.[1][2]
[edit] Track listing
- "Vertigogo (Opening Theme)" (Combustible Edison) – 2:35
- Tracks 2-11 from The Missing Ingredient:
- "Junglero" – 1:54
- "Four Rooms Swing" – 2:11
- "Theme From 'Bewitched'" (Howard Greenfield and Jack Keller) – 1:01
- "Tea and Eva In The Elevator" – 0:55
- "Invocation" – 1:26
- "Breakfast At Denny's" – 3:57
- "Strange Brew" – 0:27
- "Coven Of Witches" – 0:59
- "The Earthly Diana" – 0:36
- "Eva Seduces Ted" – 2:10
- Tracks 12-17 from The Wrong Man:
- "Hallway Ted" – 0:31
- "Headshake Rhumba" – 0:41
- "Skippen, Pukin, Sigfried" – 0:29
- "Angela" – 0:46
- "Punch Drunk" – 2:57
- "Male Bonding" – 3:06
- Tracks 18-25 from The Misbehavers:
- "Mariachi" – 0:29
- "Antes De Medianoche" – 2:45
- "Sentimental Journey" (Written by Bud Green, Les Brown and Ben Homer, performed by Esquivel) – 2:39
- "Kids Watch TV" – 2:03
- "Champagne and Needles" – 2:06
- "Bullseye" – 1:01
- "Harlem Nocturne" (Written by Earle Hagen, performed by Esquivel) – 2:30
- "The Millionaire's Holiday" – 2:13
- Tracks 26-29 from The Man from Hollywood:
- "Ted-o-vater" – 0:39
- "Vertigogo (Closing Credits)" – 5:33
- "'D' In The Hallway Credits" – 0:25
- "Torchy" – 0:16
[edit] Critical reception
The film did not fare well with critics, receiving a 15% rating from Rotten Tomatoes.[3] Roger Ebert found "The Misbehavers" to be the best of the four segments, finding both "The Missing Ingredient" and "The Wrong Man" to be the worst.[4] James Berardinelli of ReelViews described the film as "one of 1995's major disappointments".[5] Hal Hinson of the Washington Post described the experience as "a goof so laboriously and aggressively that you almost feel pinned back in your seat".[6] Most reviews agree with Ebert in finding "The Misbehavers" the best of the bunch.
Madonna won the 1995 Razzie award for Worst Supporting Actress for her part in "The Missing Ingredient".[7]
The film did not do well at the box office overall, grossing just over its $4 million budget in the United States.[8]
[edit] References
- ^ Four Rooms at SoundtrackNet
- ^ Four Rooms at Soundtrack Collector
- ^ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/four_rooms/
- ^ Four Rooms, review from December 25, 1995 (accessed February 11, 2009).
- ^ Four Rooms review on ReelViews, December 25, 1995 (accessed February 11, 2009).
- ^ Four Rooms review in the Washington Post, December 25, 1995 (accessed February 11, 2009).
- ^ The (Not So) Sweet Sixteenth Annual RAZZIE Awards (for 1995) (accessed February 9, 2009).
- ^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=fourrooms.htm (accessed February 9, 2009).
[edit] External links
- Four Rooms at the Internet Movie Database
- Four Rooms at Allmovie
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
