Chelsea Walls

Christopher Walken is credited as a character without a name (and his name appears on the VHS cassette). Can anyone tell my exactly what part he plays and/or when he appeared? I surely didn't see him - and I watched for him through the whole movie as I expected him to fit in quite well in this original movie. Or maybe I just went blind?

My first home in NYC was the YMCA across the street from the Chelsea Hotel and thus I feel qualified to say that Ethan Hawke's new film "Chelsea Walls" provides a very authentic glimpse into the lives of classic New York starving artists. Shot entirely on DV, the intimate grit of the daily struggle for love, inspiration, food, and cab fare is reminiscent of Vinterberg's 1998 dogma film "The Celebration" which Hawke affirms was an inspiration for this project. Take a peek into the lives in a few of the rooms in the legendary Chelsea Hotel in "Chelsea Walls", opening 19 April 2002.

The eclectic cast of characters includes: On-again, off-again married couple with no discernable legal occupation (Mark Webber & Rosario Dawson). A lonely waitress and moody painter with highly-charged yet unrequited chemistry (Vincent D'Onofrio & Uma Thurman). Minnesota musicians desperately searching for purpose, but enjoying Wally and the Beavers in the meantime (Robert Sean Leonard & Steve Zahn). And an emotionally-distant alcoholic writer who draws inspiration from the passion of both his lover and his wife (Kris Kristofferson, Tuesday Weld & Natasha Richardson).

There are many lines like the one above in this film. Ethan Hawke in his first work as a director has tried to capture the feeling of these modern beatniks who reside in the Chelsea Hotel in NYC and have chosen for themselves a way of life that is different than the kind of life our society would consider successful. These people aren't even artists, they're just artist wannabes. A little boy says it very clearly "It's hard to say who really is a poet these days". What makes them interesting and what they have in common is that they can't stand the modern world, their perspective on life and the belief that happiness is in simple things. There are several moments in this film that make that so clear. One of them is when Val tells Audrey (played brilliantly by Rosario Dawson) "We only have 43 dollars" and her answer is "We're just living Val. Lots of people do that.". While I was watching this film I was thinking of something I had heard in Charlie Kauffman's 'Adaptation'. "In real life nothing really happens" and I think that's exactly what Ethan Hawke's purpose is, to show us the life of some not so ordinary people who however have feelings and ordinary problems. Ethan Hawke has a wonderful script in his hands, but he fails to deliver and that's the most diappointing thing about this film. But other than that this film has so many beautiful poetic moments that it's worth watching. I understand though that if you never dreamed of this kind of life, if everything that you think matters is to make money in order to afford the comforts of modern life then this film will never appeal to you.

The residents don't seem to have money to turn on the lights, so most of the time I can't even see who is talking. There are many scenes that contain incomprehensible monologues which are superimposed onto irrelevant visuals. The numerous characters and the unrelated stories make the whole film impossible to understand for me.

The non-linear story of "Chelsea Walls" is an atmospheric collage of a variety of stories. What brings the film its merit is the performance of Kris Kristofferson. Finally, he's given some material to express his talents and delivers a passionately, brooding performance. He sucks in the essence of his drunken-has-been writer, and expels it for all to witness and reflect. If there's one reason to see this film, it's for Kris.