Mekong Hotel

Released Mar 4, 2016

59m

Drama

Fantasy

List

67%

Tomatometer

12 Reviews

58%

Audience Score

100+ Ratings

A woman (Maiyatan Techaparn) communicates with the ghost (Jenjira Pongpas) of her dead mother at a Thai hotel.

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A.A. Dowd

AV Club

Even for a filmmaker who takes pride in scaling the fantastic down to everyday proportions, there's such a thing as going too slight.

Rated: C+

Mar 3, 2016

Full Review

J. R. Jones

Chicago Reader

Weerasethakul's films have been hailed for their hypnotic mix of natural splendor and supernatural mythology, though this one is a bit lumpy by his standards.

Jan 28, 2016

Full Review

Peter Howell

Toronto Star

Apichatpong resists control and eschews close-ups, maintaining as always a Zen-like approach to his material.

Rated: 2.5/4

Jan 17, 2013

Full Review

Eric Monder

Film Journal International

Deceptively simple film becomes a strange, meditative look into Thai culture and folklore.

Mar 2, 2016

Full Review

Kelly Vance

East Bay Express

Indulges the writer-director's taste for near-catatonic pacing combined with supernatural comings and goings.

Mar 13, 2013

Full Review

Tim Brayton

Antagony & Ecstasy

A tone poem on the theme of "acting out dialogue".

Rated: 8/10

Oct 17, 2012

Full Review

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Audience Member

"Mekong Hotel" has the feel of an extemporaneous experiment in spontaneous film-making, and it is well-suited as a bonus feature on the blu-ray release of a more properly formulated film. Given that I encountered it in that fashion, I'm less inclined to complain; it offered an intriguing insight into the thought process of its maker. That being established, it is burdened by excessive minimalism and its quirks feel as though they were cobbled together on the spot. Despite its one-hour running time, it feels immeasurably longer, and the simple fact is that it just doesn't feel like a professionally made film. One could, in other words, imagine viewing it as a submitted assignment required by a film school at the undergraduate level. Despite these obvious limitations, "Mekong Hotel" is quietly soothing to observe, provided that you adjust your expectations to reflect its experimental medium.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/14/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The man with the impossible name to spell has actually done loads of films if you include his shorts. Some are lately critically acclaimed by movie buffs around the world - with grand reason. He's done several very under the radar films, especially for people in US and EU, but I managed to get a hold of this one. This is not a short, but it's just under one hour long. And I'm glad. This is a very demanding film. There are conversations, boring ones, and that's about it. Sure, we have a man playing guitar - the soundtrack to the film and actually the best feature of the film. I must admit, it's a neat touch, but the talking is boring, even vampire shots eating people every now and then at the same hotel the talking happen is not making it interesting. I have seen great films from the guy, but never really liked his most praised one - "Uncle Boonmee". This is my absolute least favorite, even if there are some nice touches here as the mentioned guitarplay and the very mellow and chill mood it puts the viewer in. It did the trick on me, and I fell off quite fast, that must be mentioned. Not artsy, really, more a borefest, with some fresh ideas that get's killed by the talking. It's almost impressive that vampireshots can feel so flat, maybe it was intended. If so, great job! 3 out of 10 golden pants.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

01/17/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Let's be honest, this is not a film, it is more like a thing, an object - it just stays there, inert. It doesn't say anything, it doesn't become anything, it only exists, and with only a bit less than an hour of running time it overstays its welcome and you can pay attention to it or not.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

02/14/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Dont waste your time.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

01/26/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Awful. One of the worst movies I've ever seen. Waste of time. No plot. Little dialogue. No point to it. Thank god it was only one hour; I was ready to run out of the theater screaming. This site lists Tilda Swinton as part of the cast - - not in the version we saw at the Chicago Film Festival on 10/12/12.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

02/19/23

Full Review

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Apichatpong Weerasethakul

Director

Jenjira Pongpas

Actor

Maiyatan Techaparn

Phon

Sakda Kaewattana

Tong

Chai Bhatana

Actor

Chatchai Suban

Actor

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Synopsis

A woman (Maiyatan Techaparn) communicates with the ghost (Jenjira Pongpas) of her dead mother at a Thai hotel.

Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Producer: Simon Field, Keith Griffiths
Screenwriter: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Distributor: Strand Releasing
Genre: Drama, Fantasy
Original Language: Thai
Release Date (Theaters): Mar 4, 2016, Limited
Box Office (Gross USA): $2.3K
Runtime: 59m
Sound Mix: Dolby