Cert 15
81 mins
BBFC advice: Contains strong language, sex, violence, drug misuse, sexualised nudity
Occasionally, the commitment to the everyfilm challenge just becomes too much.
For example, on Thursday I was tired and a little bit wound up as my day in the office neared its end.
I read a Highways Agency report of three separate traffic jams on the motorway to Sheffield and my heart sank.
I knew I needed to tick off a Tamil movie but I simply didn't want to. Therefore, I took the sensible action and took out my frustrations on the golf course for a hour instead.
Refreshed, I arrived back home at 8.30pm, ready to get into The Motel Life.
Alan and Gabe Polsky's film is what I would describe as a worker: it required perseverance but, by its conclusion, I was surprisingly satisfied.
The Motel Life is an expose of brotherly love. One is the luckless and helpless Jerry Lee (Stephen Dorff), whose tale of misery begins when he and his sibling, Frank (Emile Hirsch), lose their parents.
The resourceful Frank, the younger of the two men, dedicates his life to looking after Jerry Lee but whenever his back his turned his brother finds himself in a desperate fix.
Thus, they move from motel to motel and Frank tries to bring in enough money to keep them alive.
Set in the late 1980s, The Motel Life examines the seedier side of America, where a few thousand bucks is seen as a fortune.
Its hopelessness is amplified by the chilling winter scenes which are enveloped in a grey cheerlessness.
And the only way out of the despair is via fantasy stories which Frank makes up for his beleaguered brother.
The Motel Life made me think long and hard about life's luck, of untapped talent and unconditional love. All are present if you look hard enough.
Laughs: none
Jumps: none
Vomit: yes
Nudity: yes
Overall rating: 7/10