Other Titles • Chelsea Walls • Chelsea Hotel (2001) • Last Word on Paradise (2000)
Synopses for Chelsea Walls (2001)
1.
Ethan Hawke directs this starving-artist mood piece set in a famous New York hotel. A loose collection of artists and lonely souls waft in and out of the Chelsea in what is more a slice-of-life mood piece than a drama. The film (shot entirely on digital video) is best recommended for those who still subscribe to the notion that all artists are emotional wrecks with substance-abuse problems and that this is somehow romantic. The characters speak in poetry as often as not. If you are of a poetic bent, you may find this quirk beautiful, but more prosaic souls will find it embarrassing at best. The cast, however, is excellent. Kris Kristofferson, Vincent D'Onofrio, Rosario Dawson, Robert Sean Leonard, and Steve Zahn all do fine work, especially given the difficult dialogue and frequently inadequate natural lighting. Natasha Richardson gives a particularly memorable performance--sadly, her role is all too abbreviated. --Ali Davis
2.
The Chelsea Hotel echoes with loneliness, residents moving in and out, dreaming behind closed doors and searching for someone -- or something -- that got away. The Chelsea Hotel used to be grand, the place to live for New York City artists. Mark Twain, Thomas Wolfe, Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix…they all passed through the hotel’s halls. Now, the iron façade has become rusty and the artists in residence are tarnished, too. Still, new dreamers come every day, hoping to be inspired by the ghosts of the past.
Grace (Uma Thurman) and Audrey (Rosaria Dawson) are young poets, who constantly struggle with issues of art and love. Never learning from experience, they always seem to let the wrong men into their hearts. Grace should love Frank (Vincent D’Onofrio), an artist who respects and understands her. But she still responds to the siren call of the lover who went to Hollywood. Similarly, Audrey lets impenetrable Val (Mark Webber) back into her life, knowing he will go off with Crutches (Kevin Corrigan) to do something that could take him away from her forever.
Down the hall, Bud (Kris Kristofferson) is a writer who faces more endings than beginnings. His pretends that his wife, Greta, (Tuesday Weld) and his mistress, Mary, (Natasha Richardson) are his muses. But his eight-hundred page book is really fueled by an endless supply of alcohol. A lion who is losing his roar, Bud is out of time.
The Chelsea Hotel used to be the hippest place to live for New York artists. Painters, writers and musicians from Mark Twain to Jimi Hendrix enlivened the hotel's halls. Now, even though the iron façade has become rusty, a new generation of dreamers inhabit the hotel. Memories, aspirations, passion and scandal influence the creative visionaries to create their own masterpieces.
Mooviees.com is not the official site for this film.
All editorial views and opinions expressed here are for entertainment purposes only.
<>
Movie Database
In Theaters
