Suite Dreams

New Year's Eve in a five star Tokyo hotel. It is coming up on ten at night, everything is supposed to run perfectly until midnight, and nothing does. An animal is loose, a politician needs protecting, a guest is hiding who she is, a bellhop cannot look anyone in the eye, and a dozen storylines keep colliding in the same corridors. Koki Mitani is working openly in the tradition of 1930s Hollywood comedy and of Grand Hotel in particular, running the whole thing close to real time. It was one of the most watched Japanese films of its year, and across all two hours and change it never treats anyone in its huge cast as furniture.