Publisher: Walruse June 23, 2021
Bunker Palace Hotel from 1989 is a very aesthetic movie in the signature gritty retro-futuristic style of Enki Bilal. The narrative shrouded in mystery much like the background. There is a tangible weaponized turmoil happening just outside the frame, with suggestions of a revolution or a civil war. Additionally there seems also to be an environmental disaster, or possibly co-acting with the violence, with acid rain and poisonous clouds rolling in over the land. The movie, for the most of it, takes place in a luxury bunker deep under ground. Designed in art deco and realized as brutalist, it is staffed by half-witted androids to serve a paranoid social elite. But cracks are already showing by the welcome toast, in the hotel and the staff as with its distinguished guests. The hotel itself has a good selection of amenities but there is no exit to be found, only the entrance by a one-way elevator from an intricate arrangement over ground. While anxiously waiting for the arrival of the president the hotel receives at least one unwelcome guest, causing suspicion and temper to rise with plotting and intrigue that suggests the backstory. Bunker Palace Hotel has a pacing that requires patience, but when the narrative moves slowly, there is enough material to keep the senses occupied. The settings are absolutely fantastic and the suggested mysteries are engaging. Unfortunately at a whole it falls slightly short as too much is left for the spectators own devices and too many of the limited characters and their relations are never properly fleshed out. In summary I'd suggest this a good movie for a hangover Sunday matinée where the mind can flow at its own pace and the need for adventure and excitement has been satisfied in the night before.