ROME, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- The 9th edition of the Rome Film Festival kicked off Thursday with a screening of Bad Times at the El Royale, a lavish film noir by American writer/director Drew Goddard.
Bad Times is an ensemble period piece about seven strangers with a dark past who turn up one stormy night in 1969 at the seedy El Royale hotel on the California-Nevada border.
Each of the seven has something to hide, and their secrets and motivations are exposed in a series of flashbacks told from each of their points of view in the course of 12 hours in a single location: the El Royale hotel, which like the characters, is a puzzle whose pieces slowly become untangled.
"The structure seems complicated, but really when you boil it down it's just about seven characters (who are) struggling to be better people," Goddard told reporters after the screening.
"It was about letting them step forward into the spotlight, one by one," said the filmmaker, who cited Sergio Leone and Quentin Tarantino as his biggest influences in making this movie.
"All my movies start with love of character," said Goddard, adding that he first got the idea for Bad Times five years ago.
The story is set against the backdrop of the Nixon presidency and the Vietnam War, and it touches on issues of racism, domestic violence, drugs, religious cults, and the struggle against different forms of exploitation.
Goddard said that his movie is about the damage caused by "toxic masculinity", which has been around for centuries, and also about his belief that "there is always a path to redemption" even in the darkest of times.
This stylish, elegant, violent and yet uplifting movie was shot on a 10,000-square-foot set, in which the creative team exquisitely designed every period detail, down to different wallpapers made using 1950s techniques.
The ensemble cast includes seven-time Academy Award nominee Jeff Bridges, British actress and singer Cynthia Erivo, award-winning Mad Men series star Jon Hamm, and Dakota Johnson.
The Rome Film Festival runs through Oct. 28.
