Set in dreary Indie symbolic winter, "Motel Life" is a story of despair and unconditional love Frank (Emile Hirsch) has for his brother Jerry Lee (Stephen Dorff). After Jerry Lee accidentally kills a kid on a bicycle, Frank abets him in disposing of the evidence and moving on. The brothers and everyone they touch have lives of despair which are brightened by Frank's story telling.When the film wasn't slow and boring, it was filled with despair. It was certainly well acted and well scripted, for what it was. However on the entertainment scale, it was one I could have missed; a good movie I didn't like.The film won the audience award at the 2012 Rome Screen Fest as well as best screenplay among 17 films.Parental Guidance: F-bomb, sex, nudity- much of it was cartoon.

The Motel Life tells the story of Frank and Jerry Lee, played by Emile Hirsch and Stephen Dorff, as they navigate through their hapless life bouncing from motel to motel. When Jerry Lee is involved in a fatal hit and run, the two brothers go on the lamb from authorities. This is a film that really has a great story to it, great characters but never really capitalizes on where we think it is going to go. Instead, The Motel Life trades realism for nihilism as we see Frank telling his handicapped brother Jerry Lee wildly unrealistic stories to get him through the pain of his life all while running away from the inevitable consequences of his fatal hit and run. While the idea of the fanatical alternate universe that these brothers create for themselves represents their wanting for a better life, it never really shows them doing anything to achieve that desire. Unfortunately, the film focuses way too much on the depressive empty hope that Frank fills Jerry Lee's head with. While the stories are told in a unique way, by crude animation shorts over Hirsch's voice over, these stories never really progress into anything more than something different. The Polsky brothers direct the hell out of their actors, but spend little time trying to make any sense of the script. The script is uneven, spending too much time introducing the characters and not enough time developing something close to a coherent plot. Despite the negatives of the screenplay, The Motel Life does feature fantastic performances around the board. These performances make the film worth watching on that fact alone. Joining Hirsch and Dorff are Dakota Fanning and Kris Kristofferson, both of whom turn in wonderful supporting performances. Emile Hirsch is amazing as Frank and carries the film on his scrawny shoulders and brings it to the finish line but the real prize winner here is Stephen Dorff. Dorff's ability to make you genuinely feel heartbreak for him is impeccable. His performance as Jerry Lee shot to the top of my list of most underrated performances of all time. He is so sincere, his delivery is amazing and his scenes of showing true emotional pain and anguish is so believable you want to hug him through the screen and tell him everything will be okay. It is truly a remarkable performance from an actor that never really got his due. Dakota Fanning, while her role is rather pointless and underdeveloped, gives a very good performance here, shedding her child star persona for a gritty and truly heart wrenching portrayal of an abused runaway. Fanning's performance here is excellent but it really makes you want more out of her and the film leaves you wishing that the Polsky brothers gave her character a bit more screen time. Overall, this is a very uneven film in regards to a story but the performances are so amazing, making it worth the watch.

The Motel LIfe is a great film that follows two down on their luck brothers as they evade the law because of a drunk driving accident. The brothers played by Emile Hirsch and Stephen Dorf, have a strong bond that keeps the movie going.The directors use of animated cartoon stories to illustrate Hirsch's and Dorf's bond is very unique and fun to watch. The animated illustrations help show the character's personalities in a different way then most movies. Hirsch's interactions with his gambling friends also help to give him more depth turning him into a great protagonist for the movie. Overall this movie was very enjoyable and I would highly recommend it.

Well it seems like an interesting indie movie on the surface, but in reality the story just fails to establish itself. All through out you can just never really find yourself caring for the characters or what has happened to them. That of course isn't helped by the fact that the acting is quite very poor in places and the directing too seems somewhat amateurish at times although is reasonably acceptable as a whole. The movie is also cluttered with songs, at times you just go from 1 song onto another which is not only annoying, but, in my opinion also takes away some credibility from what is going on. Not to mention that it is plainly obvious that the numerous use of songs is just a cover to try and pull you into a story that can't hold its own. The end is anti- climatic and utterly unsatisfying, leaving you wondering what exactly this whole story was about anyway and why it just bounced around for so long and never really went anywhere. The illustrated cartoons within the movie however are really good, well animated, well narrated and properly manage to capture the setting of the movie and the characters. So in short, watch this if you feel like watching a cavalier, semi- romanticized movie about impoverished life in midland USA.