I happened to see this movie on HBO the other night. To me it was a ho-hum movie. Nothing exciting, rather the usual depressing stories of down and out people living in 5 different rooms of the famous Chelsea Hotel, all at the same evening in time. The movie is filmed as if from a cam-corder, at times, very under-lit. The jumping from one room and story to another was chaotic. This movie reminded me of a book "Life A User's Manual" by Georges Perec. Except the book was far better. In the book, each story was like part a giant jig-saw puzzle slowly connecting the lives of the people in a large Paris apartment building so in the end the final piece was placed, the entire story connected. Not so with this movie. It is missing several pieces of the puzzle. So nothing connected. It was all about individual lives. Their only common piece is the Chelsea Hotel. I know that historic hotel must have lots of stories to tell in those walls. Just these stories were not so unusual to keep the movie interesting. I kept waiting for somehow the movie to make its point and connect all the stories together, then it just ended. The actors were great. The soundtrack was marvelous! So for that it was worth 6 stars.

Chelsea Walls is no less than a moving masterpiece. From stage to screen, the integrity of this modern fairytale was not only preserved, but heightened by Hawke's abstract depiction of the hotel and its tenants. Captivating visuals and a kind of sensual stillness give the film a lulling quality, with a near-flawless cast and hypnotic monologue. The score, developed by none other than the incredible Jeff Tweedy, rounds things off to a smooth edge. I, myself, was highly impressed by the subtle references to the artists of the past. Some were apparent from the beginning (Bukowski, Ginsberg, Cassidy, Dylan), while others crept up from the corners of the story, embedding themselves in the minds of audience members everywhere. It's a film you've got to see beyond the picture. A film not fit for the short attention span. A film intended to pull you down into the depths of madness, toss you around at the violent hand of love, sing you to sleep and wake you back up in the morning. Yes, Hawke has done it again, and this time he's done it with jazz and cigarettes.Key Moments: The Poem, The Speech, The Session, The Madman, The Drunk Best Performance: A surprisingly stunning delivery from Rosario Dawson

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.

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?