X
  • 2006
  • Not Rated
  • ImaginAsian Pictures
  • 1 h 15 m
  • 2006
  • Not Rated
  • ImaginAsian Pictures
  • 1 h 15 m

Summary Thirteen-year-old Ernest Chin lives and works at a sleazy hourly-rate motel on a strip of desolate suburban bi-way. Misunderstood by his family and blindly careening into puberty, Ernest befriends Sam Kim, a self-destructive yet charismatic Korean American man who has checked in. Sam teaches the fatherless boy all the rites of manhood. (...

Directed By: Michael Kang

Written By: Ed Lin, Michael Kang

  • 2006
  • Not Rated
  • ImaginAsian Pictures
  • 1 h 15 m
  • 2006
  • Not Rated
  • ImaginAsian Pictures
  • 1 h 15 m

The Motel

Metascore Generally Favorable Based on 16 Critic Reviews
70
User Score Available after 4 ratings
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Where to Watch

Summary Thirteen-year-old Ernest Chin lives and works at a sleazy hourly-rate motel on a strip of desolate suburban bi-way. Misunderstood by his family and blindly careening into puberty, Ernest befriends Sam Kim, a self-destructive yet charismatic Korean American man who has checked in. Sam teaches the fatherless boy all the rites of manhood. (...

Directed By: Michael Kang

Written By: Ed Lin, Michael Kang

Where to Watch

Top Cast

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Critic Reviews

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Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 16 Critic Reviews
70
88% Positive
14 Reviews
13% Mixed
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews

Critic Reviews

 View All
Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 16 Critic Reviews
70
88% Positive
14 Reviews
13% Mixed
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews
88
Kang's marvelously assured feature debut is a subtle adaptation of Ed Lin's acclaimed novel "Waylaid."
By Ken Fox FULL REVIEW
80
Michael Kang's small, perfectly observed portrait of Ernest Chin (Jeffrey Chyau), a Chinese-American boy who lives and works in a dingy downscale motel operated by his mother, captures the glum desperation of inhabiting the biological limbo of early adolescence.
By Stephen Holden FULL REVIEW
75
Pleasant and surprisingly hard-edged coming-of-age indie film.
FULL REVIEW
75
Michael Kang makes an impressive feature directorial debut with The Motel. But the person to keep an eye on is Jeffrey Chyau, a student at the Bronx High School of Science, who is a delight in the lead role.
By V.A. Musetto FULL REVIEW
70
By not romanticizing its despairing yet humanistic outlook, The Motel presents a moment-by-moment emotional recap of almost anyone's formative years while simultaneously issuing a stinging reminder on the impossibility of fully outgrowing adolescence's uncertain searching.
FULL REVIEW
70
The backdrop of this seedy motel is just the perfect place to illustrate the awkward times of early teen life.
By Eric Campos FULL REVIEW
40
The Motel, Michael Kang's modest Sundance applause reaper, doesn't deserve to be shotgunned for the sins of 30 other movies. But the underwhelming syncopation of make-nice clichés is too familiar.
By Michael Atkinson FULL REVIEW

User Reviews

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Details

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Production Company Flan de Coco Films
Release Date Jun 28, 2006
Duration 1 h 15 m
Rating Not Rated
Genres
Tagline Out of Place in the Middle of Nowhere.
Website http://www.themotel-film.com
View All Details

Awards

Film Independent Spirit Awards
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
Humanitas Prize
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
San Diego Asian Film Festival
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination

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