| The Uchōten Hotel | |
| Director: | Kōki Mitani |
| Starring: | Kōji Yakusho Takako Matsu Kōichi Satō Shingo Katori Ryoko Shinohara Keiko Toda Katsuhisa Namase Kumiko Asō You Masanori Ishii Joe Odagiri Mieko Harada Toshiaki Karasawa Masahiko Tsugawa Shirō Itō Toshiyuki Nishida |
| Music: | Yūsuke Honma |
| Runtime: | 136 minutes |
| Country: | Japan |
| Language: | Japanese |
| Gross: | ¥6.08 billion (Japan)[1] |
(also known as Suite Dreams, The Wow-Choten Hotel, or Suite Hotel)[1] is a 2006 Japanese comedy film written and directed by Kōki Mitani. The film is set in a five star Tokyo hotel on New Year's Eve and follows the misadventures of various hotel staff and guests between 10 p.m. and midnight.
The film is reminiscent of the Hollywood screwball comedies of the 1930s and 1940s, and explicitly references the 1932 film Grand Hotel, whose plot also followed the interlinked lives of various characters in a fictional hotel over a short period.
Cast members include Kōji Yakusho (Heikichi Shindo, the hotel accommodation manager), Takako Matsu (Hana Takemoto, the chamber-maid with a case of mistaken identity), Kōichi Satō (Katsutoshi Mutōda, the disgraced politician), Shingo Katori (Kenji Tadano, the bell boy with musical aspirations), Ryoko Shinohara (Yōko, the call girl), Keiko Toda (Tokiko Yabe, the deputy accommodation manager), Katsuhisa Namase (Takashi Seo), Kumiko Asō (Naomi Ohara), YOU (Cherry Sakura), and Toshiyuki Nishida (Zenbu Tokugawa, the aging enka star).
The film was nominated for 11 Japanese Academy Awards, but did not win in any of the categories.
The plot involves numerous characters, the different problems or situations they face in the run-up to midnight, and the ways that these different storylines interact and are resolved. The various storylines include:
The film was the third highest-grossing domestic film at the Japanese box office in 2006[2] and, as of January 5, 2015, is the 93rd highest-grossing film in Japan, with ¥6.08 billion.[3]