New Rose Hotel (1998)

Given the rapid advancements in technology since the 1990's, it's inevitable that the massive technological achievements made in the 90's are bound to be seen as somewhat primitive when looked back upon with modern eyes, yet its nevertheless fascinating seeing how the tech revelations of the 90's shape the current tech climate. Naturally the science fiction genre was in no short supply of inspiration given the ever-evolving realm of technology and several films with concepts that at the time were thought of as futuristic seem terrifyingly prophetic. Considering the prevalence of drones, self-preserving bots, radically advanced virtual reality and immersive RPG's, films like Hardware (1990), Total Recall (1990) and eXistenz (1999), just to name a few, don't seem all that far-fetched. With the ever-increasing popularity of the internet in the 90's, the cyberpunk subgenre was particularly fruitful and one of the most surprising and overlooked films to come out of the wave of high tech features was New Rose Hotel, Abel Ferrara's adaptation of the story by William Gibson, largely considered the forefather of cyberpunk. Ferrara might not seem like the first choise to direct a cyberpunk film, however he was no stranger to science fiction having helmed the underrated Body Snatchers (1993) earlier in the decade and much like that film, New Rose Hotel presents a highly singular approach to genre, resulting in one of Ferrara's most curious yet brilliantly realized works.

Fox (Christopher Walken) and X (Willem Dafoe), two independent contractors specializing in luring big money players away from their current employers in favor of their competitors set their sights on Hiroshi, a brilliant scientist who recently developed a way to synthesize viruses. Currently working for the Maas corporation, Fox and X concoct a plan to coerce Hiroshi to join Hosaka, Maas' main competition, utilizing the charms of the beautiful Sandii (Asia Argento), who's tasked with seducing Hiroshi into falling in love, eventually leaving his wife and job. The seemingly foolproof plan is quickly put to the test however when X develops feelings for Sandii, his jealously potentially complicating matters as well as the danger of Maas uncovering Fox and X's plan to steal their star employee.

Much like The Driller Killer (1979), Ms. 45 (1981), Body Snatchers and The Addiction (1995) before it, New Rose Hotel is yet another case study in Ferrara taking genre based material and reshaping it in a forward thinking manner. What's especially interesting regarding New Rose Hotel is the way Ferrara essentially takes the story's genre trappings and uses them as a backdrop more than anything else. To be sure, the sci-fi tone is ever present, with Ferrara constantly giving off the aura of the story taking place in a futuristic, almost dystopian environment entirely controlled by mega conglomerates and technology tracing the move of every citizen. Despite the original story being written in the 80's and the film in the late 90's, the current state of affairs as it relates to surveillance is a staple of the film, with several scenes showing various characters through video capture, and most fascinatingly and perhaps entirely appropriate, Hiroshi himself is seen exclusively via surveillance camera footage. By and large though, its the nature of the relationship between Fox, X and Sandii that Ferrara is most concerned with, the drama that develops along with X's affections for Sandii giving the film an extra layer of intrigue which becomes more pronounced during the films final third. Presenting everything through flashbacks to previous scenes with slightly altered dialogue and sound and editing that takes the film into an almost Lynchian territory, Ferrara toys around with perceptions of how the story unfolded, ending the film on a hauntingly ambiguous note.

During a 2012 interview, Ferrara spoke at length about New Rose Hotel and was rather candid (as if he ever isn't) about the bad state several key players were in during filming which led to a turbulent production and belligerent crew, some of which Ferrara admitted to firing during the shoot. Hilariously he also states that Argento basically swooped in much like her character in the film and claimed ownership of her role. Argento also shot a short behind the scenes documentary, Abel/Asia (1998) during production. The film also marked the first collaboration between Ferrara and Willem Dafoe who would go on to star in Ferrara's Go Go Tales (2007), 4:44 Last Day on Earth (2011) and Pasolini (2014). The film is also to date the final collaboration between Ferrara and Christopher Walken after memorable turns in King of New York (1990), The Addiction and The Funeral (1996). In the same previously mentioned interview, Ferrara makes some interesting statements regarding technology, specifically the internet saying “The information highway is leading straight to Hell” and described the rather dubious nature of a lot of online journalism as “an echo of a rumor”. Again, the film may have been shot in 1998 and its cyberpunk footing making it very much of its time, it's the sentiments found in those quotes from Ferrara that made Gibson's story and Ferrara's film very much ahead of their time.