The Hotel Venus (2004)

• 77%
• 2004
• Drama
• Hideta Takahata
• Tsuyoshi Kusanagi
• Miki Nakatani
• Teruyuki Kagawa

In a strange alienated world there is a secret hotel in a shabby diner called the Venus Café, harboring some unusual people where compelling secrets lie in each resident's heart. Torturing secrets that have broken their emotional boundaries in the past. In this bittersweet, heart-wrenching story, there lives a man by the name of Chonan (Tsuyoshi Kusanagi) who lives in the attic and works as a waiter or handyman at the hotel. Room 1 is shared by two residents; an incapable alcoholic and an illegal doctor named Doctor (Teruyuki Kagawa) and Wife (Miki Nakatani) who used to be a nurse but now works as a hostess living in the hopes of Doctor's recuperation. In Room 3 lives a bubbly girl by the name of Soda (Jo Eun Ji), who came from a deserted town where no one flowers flourished and has a dream to open her own flower shop. Finally, Room 4, occupied by a challenging young boy by the name of Boy (Lee Joon Gi), who carries around a gun longing to become a strong man and wishes to some day become a hitman. Then there is the owner of the café, Venus, who is a mysterious transvestite and has only one able leg. Later one day, a drifter by the name of Gai (Park Jung Woo), a quiet man who would avoid verbal communication, walks into the Venus Café with a little girl named Sai (Heui Ko To) who never smiles. He tells Chonan the secret password to entering the hidden hotel and then they became the residents to Room 2. Gai later gets a job at a construction site, while Chonan preserves in comforting Sai to open up her heart and in the process finds his own heart slowly opening as well. Boy, who wants to become a strong man doesn't like Gai staying at the hotel and in the mist of things gets into fight with Gai challenging him to show his worth as a strong man. But in the progress ends up shooting Sai in the leg rendering her feeble. In addition, Soda who is usually bubbly later becomes sad due to the illegal errands she has run for her boss at the flower shop. But Chonan eventually discovers Soda's illegal errands and confronts her to preach to her the differences in right from wrong. In the mean while, Doctor and Wife are constantly fighting over their petty differences and Doctor's alcoholism, which later causes Wife to leave in depression.