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The Motel Life
The hardscrabble lives of two brothers (Emile Hirsch, Stephen Dorff) reach a breaking point when one accidentally runs over and kills a bicycle rider, which forces the brothers across the state to the home of one's old flame.
18 February 1976, Evanston, Chicago, Illinois, USA
14 February 1953, Waterloo, Iowa, USA
29 July 1973, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
7 April 1960, Columbus, Ohio, USA
16 April 1977, Chicago, Illinois, USA
17 June 1975, Houston, Texas, USA
30 June 1966, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
April 03, 2014
The film is heavy-going, unformed and self-indulgent, with characters who are neither sympathetic nor (crucially) interesting.
November 08, 2013
It's occasionally pretentious but ultimately moving, at least for the miniscule audience that will turn out to see such a downer of a movie.
November 08, 2013
This independent drama effectively captures the spirit of much contemporary fiction: the tone is at once precious and stark, and the narrative drifts from one episode to another (and from realism to fantasy) as though it were playing out in a dream.
April 04, 2014
The rambling plot may resemble a lyric from a mawkish country song but the film-makers bring an engaging mix of tenderness and grit to the downbeat material.
April 10, 2014
There's definitely a niche audience out there that will love The Motel Life; and this is a film that deserves to be loved.
April 16, 2014
Watching The Motel Life, I felt that I was in the hands of someone capable of making a great film.
November 13, 2013
Alan Polsky and Gabriel Polsky propel the material in a way that can feel over-determined. But they grasp the eccentricities and desperation of fringe dwellers, and at its strongest their atmospheric film has the pull of a sad outlaw song.
April 04, 2014
The whole thing is deep-down conservative and wetter than a Labrador's kiss.
November 08, 2013
We have seen many films about losers on the run, but in the directorial debut of former Chicago siblings Alan and Gabe Polsky, we get an intriguing new take on brotherly love not only gone wrong, but clearly hopeless from the beginning.
November 08, 2013
As good as "The Motel Life" is for the actors, that's how bad it is for the viewer.
November 15, 2013
Sensitive lensing and acting render an unusual story of brotherly love touching in a promising first film.
May 30, 2014
A pedestrian, undeveloped indie clunker, its failure as a complete, satisfying story especially disappointing since the sibling relationship at its center could have been special with a better script.