‘Dreaming Walls: Inside the Chelsea Hotel’ a Living Memorial for a Once Bustling Bohemian Site

It’s true that some places carry a piece of your soul.

True New Yorkers are infatuated with the history of their city. Dreaming Walls: Inside the Chelsea Hotel focuses less on the history of the building and shifts toward the remaining inhabitants. It’s a dismal look at the disintegration of an era and the people who refuse to be erased by changing times.

The first fifteen minutes of the film are presented in cinema verité, immersing the audience into New York culture and beginning to pull on this historic site’s thread.

A cultural staple in New York, the legendary Chelsea Hotel is under renovation. Once a home away from home and a haven for notable figures such as Patti Smith, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, and Madonna, the hotel will soon have its 60s charm stripped away.

What once bustled with bohemian vibrancy will be transformed into a luxurious hotel, the likes of which may not have been so welcomed by the residents currently occupying the space.

At present, the hotel holds residents that have inhabited the space since its earlier days and continue to remain through the construction, which has been taking place for nearly a decade. Clinging to a world that no longer exists, these residents have melded with the location. They are as much of history as the building itself.

Amélie Van Elmbt and Maya Duverdier’s journey took place over four years when they first discovered the hidden site underneath the scaffolding. The neon sign hanging just as described in Patti Smith’s book “Just Kids” — a book that means a lot to both of them.

The director’s pacing resonates with the feeling of waiting — waiting out the inevitable, or maybe waiting for a savior. It feels like a fever dream with double-exposed frames and montages as if we’re being haunted by better days. It’s empty, like something that was there no longer exists. It’s the sound of dreams unfulfilled and forgotten lives.

For fans of documentary films, there might be some frustration from not learning quite enough about the Chelsea Hotel or its community. The documentary barely peers into its rooted history. But something enchanting about the film spells the viewer into never wanting to leave, much like its residents.

Not getting a complete picture of the hotel’s history might make it hard for some viewers to share its virtue. One can assume that waking to find the building’s memories coated with fresh paint and reimagined interior decor could be jarring and heartbreaking for the building’s dwellers.

Even without those nitty gritty details, the filmmakers move through the story so the viewer can feel what isn’t explained in the film’s gaps. It’s a living memorial, a farewell to a time that will end with the lives of its inhabitants.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars