TV REVIEW : ‘Motel’ Is a Snug Stop on ‘P.O.V.’ Series

In our great American experience, we have romantic notions about motels. No, not those romantic notions--rather the romance of the open road, a haven house for the tired traveler, a respite for a night, escape on the weary journey from here to there.

German-born filmmaker Christian Blackwood looks askance at this phenomenon in a 90-minute study, “Motel,” one of the PBS “P.O.V.” series. It airs tonight at 10 on KCET Channel 28 and KPBS Channel 15.

It’s an intriguing mixture of documentary, essay and poetry in motion about a few of the more curious people whose very lives circulate around their motels.

One of the grander examples: a faded onetime Broadway ballerina and her comic sidekick who constitute the ghost town of Death Valley Junction, Calif. It consists of restored Amargosa Opera House, where they perform their pantomime shows, and adjoining motel, which has seen better days and is now seeing worse.

We also meet wives and lovers of the Blue Mist in Florence, Ariz., awaiting visiting days for their dear ones at the nearby State Prison.

The motel’s primary legend is Room 22, where an inmate on weekend furlough dismembered his mother, thus ending prison furloughs as well as Mother.

Could be a nice movie. Could star Mother Bates and her attentive son Norman. Could be scary.