$20 TIX @ THE DOOR FROM 3:15 TRAILER https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64JvE5dxh7g FULL REVIEW "New York City's Chelsea Hotel looms large in the history of visual art, literature and music. No matter one's tastes in art, the "elegant in a worn out way" location will have figured in the life of a prominent favourite creative. Ghosts of the Chelsea Hotel (and other rock n' roll stories) initially appears to be an attempt to chronicle the various guests and denizens who roamed the hallways, nestled within a historical overview. That is ambitious enough, the history is fascinating—from utopian commune to commercial enterprise—and the list of famous and infamous inhabitants is dizzying. From Sarah Bernhardt and Mark Twain through the Warhol set to Sid Vicious's violent final act, it seems that anyone who was anyone in influencing popular culture had a room at the Chelsea Hotel at one point or another. While watching, I found that I was merely jotting down names and anecdotes: William S Burroughs, Nico, Jack Kerouac, Dylan, Arthur Miller, Janis Joplin, Tennessee Williams, Michael Imperioli, Leonard Cohen, etc, etc. That was entertaining, but there was not enough time to go into depth on any of them. There are a hundred documentaries waiting to be created out of every few minutes of Ghosts of the Chelsea Hotel. But of course filmmaker Danny Garcia (Nightclubbing: The Birth of Punk Rock in NYC, Rolling Stone: The Life and Death of Brian Jones, Sid: The Final Curtain, Stiv: No Compromise, No Regrets) has a cleverer end game in mind. Just as Ghosts of the Chelsea Hotel begins to feel it is in danger of becoming a gritty celebrity profile of a building, the film takes a sharp turn into the 'ghosts' portion of the title and Garcia's thesis becomes clear. It is powerful, cathartic and pulls all the stories into a radiant focus. Very subversive filmmaking. And it has been very entertaining getting there. Garcia has interviewed long term residents of the Chelsea Hotel and they are a motley collection of characters, all as interested in self-aggrandization as they are in telling anecdotes. Unreliable narrators to the core, but highly amusing ones. The interviews are intercut with archival footage, stills and three thematic throughlines. Firstly the camera roams the dilapidated halls of the hotel in an homage, or precursor, to Kubrick's The Shining. While an eerie contrast to the hideous boutique hotel renovations we eventually do see, it also sets up Garcia's thesis succinctly...."