TIFF’23: The Royal Hotel is pure, nail-biting tension

Traveling around the world can be a tremendously enjoyable experience. You can learn a lot about other cultures and yourself, experience new things, and have tons of fun with new people. But as this film shows, sometimes travelling can go wrong.

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The Royal Hotel is the latest film from Kitty Green (the director of Casting JonBenet and the Assistant), and it stars Julia Garner (also from the Assistant and Ozark) and Jessica Henwick (from Glass Onion and Iron Fist). They’re playing two young women travelling around Australia having fun, until they run out of money. They take a job at the Royal Hotel, a small pub in a mining town in the middle of nowhere. The town is mostly filled with men, and the testosterone rises anytime new women come to town.

The film deals with similar themes to Green’s 2019 film the Assistant, in that both are about women struggling under male-dominated power structures. Whereas that film was about the power imbalance that rises in an office setting, this film feels a lot more dangerous and wild. Of the two leads, Henwick’s character is one who feels more willing to embrace the unknown and throw herself into whatever situation. She seems willing to do things for the experience, whether that be a good or bad one.

But Garner’s character is one who seems to hear the soundtrack (done by Jed Palmer who previously scored Upgrade). It’s tense and eerie, and Garner’s character is always aware that the worst seems to be around the corner. She knows that the men here don’t always have the best intentions, and all the filmic elements help to show her apprehension is warranted. While both leads are great, Garner here gives an amazing performance that leaves the viewer in a state of suspense.

The film feels like a mishmash of Western and horror at many points, with the isolating nature of the scenery doing a lot of the heavy lifting in this film. The mixture of these scenes with the tiny halls and claustrophobic nature of the Royal Hotel make it seem like there’s no where to go, no where that is safe. This anxious feeling is bolstered by strong supporting performances from many of the men, including Hugo Weaving (from the Matrix), Toby Wallace (also at TIFF with finestkind), and Daniel Henshall (from the Babadook), who each show a terrifying side to their drunken nature.

The Royal Hotel is at its best when it leans into the anxiety of its premise, especially on scenes featuring Garner’s character. This is tough thriller to watch, but one that can be cathartically rewarding. This film gets a 3/5.