Review of The Royal Hotel, directed by Kitty Green

Right before I left for South Korea in the summer of 2024, ready to go on the trip of a lifetime for free, as I was funded by the US State Department to go learn Korean in Busan for the summer, I was watching a ton of movies.

Once I finished my master’s thesis and walked across the stage, graduating for what might be the final time unless I change my mind about my PhD plans, I had a ton of free time. That meant I was consuming a lot of movies and books during this period, as I literally had nothing else to do and I lost my car.

The Royal Hotel had been a movie I was meaning to watch for a hot minute, but simply never got around to doing. I wandered onto Kanopy one day when I spotted this was an option, and I decided to go for it.

That said, here’s my review and summary! I don’t want to ramble too much.

Two female backpackers find themselves working at a hotel in rural Australia.

Our main characters in this movie are Liv and Hanna, who are American. They’re both young women backpacking, and they’re currently in the outback of Australia. They lost all of their money partying in Sydney, but then they take up an opportunity to work as being bartenders in the Outback.

Because they need the money badly, they take the job. They arrive in the town, which is known for mining, and meet the owner of the ub and his wife. There’s a big farewell party happening that night for the English bartenders who are leaving the job.

Hanna finds herself not liking the gig already when she meets some of the regulars, as she thinks this environment is extremely toxic, especially for women. Liv doesn’t seem to care, and the next day they go swimming with a group from the town. They also learn some secrets about the town, and Hanna is approached sexually by one of the regulars.

She refuses him, and then she notices how the pub customers truly are disgusting. They think she’s a prude, and then go more towards Liv because she’s willing to put up with it. But one night, Liv clocks out early, and Hanna is let with an aggressive Dolly who’s drunk and willing to go after Hanna.

Dolly then leaves a dead snake in a jar of alcohol with Hanna’s name on it, further disturbing her. Liv brushes it off again, but then Hanna tries to get Dolly banned from the pub.

She then tries to quit with Liv, but then the pub owner simply refuses to pay them because they did not fulfill the terms of their contract. Billy then falls while drunk, and his wife has to drive him to the hospital.

Before she does that, though, she drops a secret: most of the money went to Tommy and there’s only a little left. She tells them to take the money that’s left and grab the next bus out of town in two days.

Hanna throws a birthday party for Liv at the pub on their very last night, then realizes Liv, now drunk, left with Dolly. She finds them in his car, and she slashes his tires when he tries to drive off.

The girls get into a fight, and the next morning Matty and Dolly break into the pub, chasing Hanna. She grabs the axe and tries to defend herself, but they overpower her and take Liv. Liv realizes something is up and breaks free.

Another guy, Teeth, smashes into Dolly’s car and then beats him up. The girls break bottles in the pub, and then Teeth comes inside, claiming he did this to get Liv for himself. Liv tells him off, and then Hanna sets the pub on fire.

The film ends with them walking away as the pub burns to the ground.

Overall Thoughts

This was a movie I found pretty difficult to watch as a woman. These poor girls definitely made some bad decisions to end up in the situation they found themselves in, but they did not deserve it.

I found the dynamic between the girls most interesting to me, especially how Liv is in denial about the guys around them and waves it off as a cultural difference. You should not be backpacking without some kind of self preservation skill, and she’s kind of lacking it.

That said, I think this is a solid movie. I don’t know if I would return to it again because of that, but I had some thoughts for sure after watching it.

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