Dreaming Walls – A Refreshing Documentary

The myths surrounding the legendary Chelsea Hotel loom large in the mind of every aspiring artist. In spite of the fact that the likes of Edie Sedgwick went through some of the most difficult periods of their lives while staying at the hotel, an undeniable aura of cool clings to the wildly popular New York establishment. In the popular imagination, it exists as a sort of artist’s commune, in which the Patti Smiths of the world sit around writing spoken word poetry and musing about the meaning behind Dylan Thomas’s Fern Hill. The romanticized vision that most people have of the location causes us to forget that it is also inhabited by non-famous New Yorkers who are just going about their lives.

Dreaming Walls documents the experiences of some of the hotel’s quirkier residents during a period in which the building is being renovated. In doing so, it draws attention to their efforts to keep a creative spirit alive whilst society crumbles around them. Most long term residents are not fabulously wealthy and devote their energies to creative pursuits that are unlikely to garner them accolades or public acclaim. In one case, a painter turns the creative process into a form of performance artist. He gets his clients to provide him with financial compensation in exchange for the experience of collaborating with him on a project. Pursuing this career leaves him in a precarious financial position, but he appears to produce art for the sake of fulfilling his own needs and desires.

The lifestyles led by current residents are contrasted with those led by the hotel’s most well-known occupants, as images of Marilyn Monroe are projected onto the crumbling walls of the more run-down rooms in the middle of experimental sequences. It is in these moments that the film settles into a frantic rhythm that seems to echo the despair lurking behind many of the open-ended questions that the documentary ponders. This is no mere celebration of the fabulousness of the starving artist lifestyle and Maya Duverdier and Amílie Van Elmbt seem open to the idea that the bloom is off the rose when it comes to New York’s artistic community. At times Dreaming Walls asks its audience to stare into an abyss of sorts, as we glance at the faces of beautiful, talented individuals and wonder why they felt emotionally and spiritually unfulfilled. They aren’t the first filmmakers to treat Monroe as a representative of the hollowness of the American Dream, but their appropriation of her heavily dissected image seems fitting.

It should also be noted that Dreaming Walls isn’t one of those “New York ain’t what it used to be” films. Audiences will find relatively little nostalgia from the past in the reminiscences offered up by elderly lodgers. Instead of being filled with wistful longing for the past, they look towards the future with a mixture of trepidation and unease. It’s this refusal to fall back on pat sentiments that kept me fully engaged in the proceedings. In an age in which the gaps between different generations have become dangerously wide, this comes to seem like a curiously hopeful exploration of the hopes and dreams of modern day baby boomers.

There are times when the documentary loses its way and noodles for about minutes at a time but, for the most part, Dreaming Walls is a fascinating effort. This doesn’t serve as a definitive statement on the cultural and historical significance of the Chelsea Hotel, but at this point, it’s refreshing to see a project that doesn’t have pretensions of reviving the spirit of a past era.

In the end, Duverdier and Van Elmbt should be commended for stepping away from the boomer nostalgia trend and attempting to say something about the future of this landmark heritage site.

still courtesy of Magnolia Pictures

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Zita Short

I am passionate about screwball comedies from the 1930s and certain actresses from the Golden Age of Hollywood. I’ll aim to review new Netflix releases and write features, so expect a lot of romantic comedies and cult favourites.