Dreaming Walls: Inside the Chelsea Hotel
Magnolia Pictures | Release Date: July 8, 2022 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
69
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 12 Critic Reviews
Positive:
9
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
The PlaylistChristian GallichioJun 13, 2022
There’s simply too many stories to contain about the Chelsea, but “Dreaming Walls” does well to show how the ghosts of the residents past can, hopefully, inform the hotel’s future. Read full review
83
The Film StageMichael FrankJun 27, 2022
A moving, devastating piece of filmmaking. Read full review
75
TheWrapKatie WalshJul 8, 2022
In remaining present, with the past and future swirling feverishly, the film is a deeply poignant and moving love letter to those that remain, who “rage, rage, against the dying of the light,” as Dylan Thomas once wrote. Someone’s got to make a stand for the last vestiges of the soul of New York City, and “Dreaming Walls” beautifully captures their fight and their dreams. Read full review
75
Original-CinLiam LaceyJul 7, 2022
Beauty and loss hold hands in Dreaming Walls: Inside the Chelsea Hotel, an intimate and impressionistic documentary about New York’s storied Chelsea Hotel from Belgian filmmakers, Amélie van Elmbt and Maya Duverdier. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreJun 17, 2022
We’re invited to dream along with the filmmakers, without a lot of background, footnotes or interviews with experts or the celebrated folks who once lived there. Read full review
70
VarietyOwen GleibermanJul 29, 2022
“Dreaming Walls” sets out to capture not the history of the Chelsea, or even the experience of the people who’ve lived there, so much as the afterglow of the Chelsea. The aging residents it shows us can check out anytime (or get kicked out), but they can never leave. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesNoel MurrayJul 8, 2022
What results is an illuminating new way of seeing this old building — not just as an historic landmark where amazing things happened long ago, but as a place where people have actually lived full lives, finding shelter and inspiration in its haunted halls. Read full review
70
The New York TimesBen KenigsbergJul 7, 2022
The film avoids providing too much context, a choice that contributes to the spectral atmosphere. The directors aren’t after a news piece; they’re just listening to voices that continue to echo in the corridors. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comMarya E. GatesJul 8, 2022
It’s in exploring the iconography of the hotel that the documentary shines the brightest. Van Elmbt and Duverdier are clearly well-versed in the works that were created on the grounds, or by former residents, and do their best to imbue their film with the same timeless cool that pulses through them. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawJan 21, 2023
It’s a melancholy, dreamy study. Read full review
60
The Irish TimesTara BradyJan 20, 2023
For all Joachim Philippe and Virginie Surdue’s handsome cinematography, this lyrical documentary lacks focus and, more disappointingly, historical context. A missed opportunity. Read full review
58
IndieWireKristen LopezJul 7, 2022
The film presents a contemplative elegy for a hotel whose history is (still) being eroded, but by focusing on the literal walls (and how they, of course, can’t actually talk) only further removes the voices of the very people who live (and dream) inside of them Read full review
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