Director Kitty Green’s latest feature “The Royal Hotel” sees two Canadian best friends, Hanna (Julia Garner) and Liv (Jessica Henwick) backpacking across Australia. Their hard-partying adventure has drained them of cash. So to make some quick money the two take jobs bartending at the Royal Hotel, a rough and rowdy pub in a remote mining community deep in the Outback. But the young women come to realize they’re in way over their heads.

With “The Royal Hotel” Green uses the framework of a psychological thriller to shrewdly examine gender dynamics and skewed masculinity. She delivers a slow-burner that possesses a steady sense of discomfort and dread yet that never quite reaches the satisfying crescendo it’s moving toward. Things do intensify in the final few minutes, but it’s abrupt and over before ever having the impact it could have had.

But that’s not to discount what Green has accomplished. From her direction to the script she co-wrote with Oscar Redding, the ability to create and develop the kind of tension she does is no small feat. It begins the moment Hanna and Liv arrive at the off-the-map pub. Everything from the dirty uninviting location to the introductions to the queasy clientele creates a feeling of unease. The film is based on Peter Gleeson’s 2016 documentary “Hotel Coolgardie” and Green does a good job generating the same sense of discomfort and fear.

The bar is owned by Billy (Hugo Weaving) who is about as close as Hanna and Liv get to having some kind of protection. But don’t be fooled, he’s no patron saint. He’s an unreliable boozer who is occasionally kept in check by his wife Carol (Ursula Yovich), the pub’s semi-compassionate cook. And he proves to be of little help from the belligerent drunks whose glaring toxicity and unwanted advances only intensifies with each passing visit.

Again Green does a magnificent job creating an uncomfortable atmosphere but the story has a couple of issues. One centers around Hanna and Liv’s questionable judgement which starts early and doesn’t get much better as the story progresses. Take a moment after their brutal first night of work. Hanna rightly wants to leave and it’s easy to see why. But she’s easily convinced to stay by Liv who is determined to stick it out for a few weeks to earn enough cash to continue their travels. It’s one of many head-scratching choices that comes back to haunt them. Green never excuses the objectification, misogyny, and eventual violence. But making sense of some of their decisions can be challenging.

And then there is the aforementioned ending which wraps up as quickly as it ratchets up. It’s a reasonably fitting finish yet one that lacks the bite it could have had. Still, the movie is anchored by Garner and Henwick who give nuanced performances and bring distinct personalities to their characters. And while it may not conclude on the strongest note, Green creates an environment that gets more physically and psychologically perilous from our protagonists while steadily getting more unnerving for us.

VERDICT – 3 STARS