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Chelsea Walls
EMAILPRINTLions Gate Films Inc.
Generally unfavorable reviews
Based on 18 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 9 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama
Written by: Nicole Burdette (also play)
Directed by: Ethan Hawke
Release Date:
Theatrical: April 19, 2002
DVD: August 6, 2002
Running Time: 109 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: R for language
Starring Rosario Dawson, Vincent D'Onofrio, Kris Kristofferson, Robert Sean Leonard, Natasha Richardson, Uma Thurman, Steve Zahn, and Christopher Walken
The residents of the Chelsea Hotel in New York City, young and full of expectations, mingle with the old hotel ghosts and guests, ultimately becoming interchangeable. They form a community, linked by their dreams. The Chelsea Hotel never really leaves the people who live there, nor do they ever really leave it. (Lions Gate Films)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: The Hottest State
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas
Ethan Hawke, in his feature directorial debut, has brought Nicolette Burdette's play to the screen with fluid grace and a perfect blend of dreaminess and grit, expressed in camerawork that seems to float and in Jeff Tweedy's shimmering, gently insistent score.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Movies like this do not grab you by the throat. You have to be receptive.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
The cast is certainly impressive, and probably reason enough for seeing this.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
Too freewheeling for its own good, like a Robert Altman ensemble piece without a gravitational core. But Hawke's actors are a talented troupe, and even when things get self-indulgent and fuzzy-headed (and boy, do they!), interesting stuff is going on.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Stephen Holden
Yet the movie sustains a mood. It passionately believes in itself and in the value of the messy artistic lives it glosses, and some of that belief rubs off on you.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Patrick Z. McGavin
Aims for a sadness and desperation that is crudely announced rather than subtly demonstrated.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir
Does become more engaging as it lurches along, perhaps because you give up hoping that anything will really happen and settle into the Nicolas Roeg-meets-David Lynch-at-the-cast-party-for-"Taxi Driver" atmosphere of mid-'70s nothingness.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
The ethos of the Chelsea Hotel may shape Hawke's artistic aspirations, but he hasn't yet coordinated his own DV poetry with the Beat he hears in his soul.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
The few minutes of footage devoted to a performance by bona fide jazz artist "Little" Jimmy Scott, an eccentric cult favorite, is more genuinely evocative than anything else in the film
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Mark Olsen
Pretension, in its own way, is a form of bravery. For this reason and this reason only -- the power of its own steadfast, hoity-toity convictions -- Chelsea Walls deserves a medal.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps
Works equally poorly as a tourist brochure and as a drama.
Read Full Review >Variety Todd McCarthy
Speak a great deal, but they don't have much to say. A dull ensembler.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Erin Meister
As for Hawke's direction, if there is any, it certainly isn't apparent. The shots are frequently bland and uneven, and the players act as though their only instruction was ''Just show up at the set and remember your lines.'' At least they seem to have gotten that much right.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
With most movies that fail, the fault can be ascribed to carelessness or lack or inspiration or cynicism. But Chelsea Walls, directed by actor Ethan Hawke, is clearly a labor of love.
Read Full Review >New Times (L.A.) Andy Klein
With virtually no interesting elements for an audience to focus on, Chelsea Walls is a triple-espresso endurance challenge.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Michael Atkinson
The digital-video results play like a flatulent teenager's first discovery of jazz, cigarettes, and hooch.
Read Full Review >New York Post Jonathan Foreman
Calling it pretentious doesn't do justice to the toxic faux-bohemianism and unearned self-regard that bubble and ooze out of every aspect of Chelsea Walls.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jami Bernard
The actor's directorial debut is a lugubriously poetic homage to the famed Chelsea Hotel, which is to New York's artistic and beatnik past what Ellis Island is to the story of American immigration.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 6.8 (out of 10) based on 9 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Matthew P gave it a0:
Ethan Hawke obviously has no idea how to make a movie. From the beginning, I feel like I'm watching actors act, not characters in a story. The film rushes me around to several scenes and nothing from any of them sticks (the bad camerawork makes an impression though). Plus everyone is just spouting pseudo-philosophical jargon. Hasn't Hawke taken Creative Writing 101? SHOW, Don't tell...This film actually made me angry. I couldn't finish it. It's the worst movie I've seen in a while.
Adam M gave it an8:
I thought that the movie was above avg. It did have a unique plot, but some of the senes were kind of lengthy. I have been by this place on my rollerblades going to the chelsea skate park on the pier. Anyways I like the music and the art keep these movies coming. THANKS.
PJ gave it a2:
I don't understand the series of 10's this film earned in the user ratings. If a film like Citizen Kane represents a generally accepted level of supreme fillmmaking, and therefore worthy of a 10, Chelsea Walls is nowhere near that mark. In addition, the notion that anyone giving this film a poor review, is either not very bright or didn't view the film with an open mind, is rather immature. This film was recommended to me by a friend, with whom I share a similar taste in film. So, I went into this expecting to like the Chelsea Walls...but that's not how it turned out. First off, the grainy digital picture and lifeless camerawork make the visuals an absolute chore to take in. The dim interior and exterior lighting doesn't help matters any. As far as the actual performances go, there were a few actors that turned in intermittently compelling performances. However, the amount of time devoted to most of the characters is brief which doesn't allow for much development. Not only were the individual story arcs quite thin, they also failed to interweave in a manner that added anything of value to the plot line. In general, everything about this film seemed very contrived and amateurish. It plays more like a documentary than an ensemble drama. Had this been a documentary chronicling the lives of actual Chelsea residents, I would've been more receptive, and been able to take the characters seriously. Yet, it's a fictional tale of struggling artists pretentiously portrayed by established actors in somber settings. The most pressing question this film raises, is just what the filmmakers were trying to express about the Chelsea and its residents. Apparently, what was once a grand hotel that housed some of histories greatest American artists, is now nothing more than a run-down haven for aimless deadbeats who's personal problems will prevent them from ever making great art. That seemed to be the sentiment of the two cops in the film, and is what makes them, sadly, the only two characters I could really identify with. If I had to describe this film in one word, that word would be "bleak."
toto gave it a9:
I´ve just seen it (already started). I really enjoyed it and I guess that´s how it has to be; I ´ll have to accept the fact some people won´t like it... we´re all different after all. However, I´d be surely satisfied by knowing that everyone was caught by at least some fragment of it. That is, we´re all different in this world, but deep in the heart, we´re all the same. Good bye
Matt gave it a 3:
A bad movie is still a bad movie, all pompous pretentiousness and teenage anxst aside.
Kelly W. gave it a 10:
This movie, contrary to one of the "official" reviews, DOES grab you by the throat. Whether you are a fellow "Chelsea-ite" or not, this movie expresses the human condition in a way that no one will miss. After watching this movie and living through the actors, you become part of the Chelsea in a way that is impossible to express. Ethan Hawke did a wonderful job invoking the ghosts of this beautifuly haunting hotel. This movie is the next best thing to living there. Robert Sean Leonard and Rosario Dawson bring a combined reality to all of the residents of the Chelsea--past, present and future. If you have never lived in the Chelsea Hotel, watch this movie...You'll be there next week.
Matt W. gave it a 10:
I think this movie shows a great deal about the human condition and our relationships. There is so much said with so few words. All one has to do is just WATCH the film and take the characters into themselves and relate it to their own experiences. No one can tell me that this isn't a brilliant film that captivates it's audience...if the audience would just give it a shot.
