Chelsea on the Rocks (2008)

70% of critics liked it
(27 reviews)
40% of users liked it
(749 ratings)

The Chelsea Hotel has long been considered the creative epicenter of New York City, a sort of unofficial gathering point for the most renowned artists and entertainers that the city has to offer. But while the Chelsea Hotel was once considered an impenetrable, untouchable monument to the creative… More The Chelsea Hotel has long been considered the creative epicenter of New York City, a sort of unofficial gathering point for the most renowned artists and entertainers that the city has to offer. But while the Chelsea Hotel was once considered an impenetrable, untouchable monument to the creative spirit, an early 21st century renovation led many to believe that the new management company had little appreciation for its unique history. Dennis Hopper, Milos Forman, R. Crumb, Ethan Hawke, Grace Jones, and a whole host of Chelsea Hotel regulars all chime in with their fondest memories about the New York landmark, and their thoughts about what may be in store for the iconic building in the future. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Directed By: Abel Ferrara
Written By: Abel Ferrara, David Linter
Genres: Documentary, Special Interest

In Theaters: Oct 16, 2009 Limited
Studio: Aliquot Films

Critic Reviews

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times
There's a great movie to be made about the Chelsea Hotel; unfortunately, this isn't it.
Ty Burr, Boston Globe
You may not learn much about the hotel itself from Chelsea on the Rocks, but you come away knowing exactly what it was like to live there.
Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle
This is Ferrara's first documentary since 1977, and it has the crackbrained air of menace and the ferocious humor that mark his fictional works.
Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News
Ferrera's shaggy tone, which fits the iconic building, gets irritating. Still, if you come for the stories, you'll stay for the company.
Lou Lumenick, New York Post
Chelsea on the Rocks rambles a bit, but it's a real slice of New York history that includes everything from Ethan Hawke recounting a hilarious story about Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller at the hotel to footage of the 9/11 attacks...
Stephen Holden, New York Times
An enraptured fantasia of high times at the hotel, the film is so intoxicated with the Chelsea's bohemian mystique it virtually consumes itself.
Sarah Boslaugh, Playback:stl
A creative community is as fragile an ecosystem as any salt marsh and just as easily destroyed: Chelsea on the Rocks celebrates a hotel which nurtured some of the greatest talents of the twentieth century.
Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
It's a cheap, vicarious high to hear these unidentified denizens reminisce about the orgies and overdoses that seem to have been included with the rent.
Fernando F. Croce, CinePassion
Fond and funky elegy
Ron Wilkinson, Monsters and Critics
Nostalgic and fun to talk about but not that much fun to listen to. At some point the dead will simply rest in peace.
Betsy Sherman, Boston Phoenix
A visually poetic, if erratically edited, portrait illustrating how "the energy of this hotel is bigger than the people in it."
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice
Unfocused and uninteresting documentary about the famous hotel for bohemians of all stripes.
Avi Offer, NYC Movie Guru
Often drags with poor editing and lack of sufficient insight while leaving you feeling unengaged and underwhelmed.
Laura Clifford, Reeling Reviews
...Ferrara has left a testament to a beloved place whose spirit has been corrupted by commerce.
Sean Gandert, Paste Magazine
In need of a re-edit like few other films, Chelsea on the Rocks isn't so much bad as it is disappointing.
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
Ferrara found a way to adapt his ramshackle style to the documentary format, and his new Chelsea on the Rocks works spectacularly.
Sam Adams, AV Club
Ferrara himself is no stranger to substance abuse or self-destructive impulses, and he's perfectly in sync with the Chelsea's spirit.
Kam Williams, Sly Fox
Not exactly art for art's sake, more like a case of film for historic preservation's sake!

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Melvin W

Chelsea on the Rocks is a film that sounds like it should be an interesting and worthwhile film. Sadly, Abel Ferrara takes a setting and completely makes a mess of it. The film is so unfocused and unclear, that it ends up being story after story, in no particular order. It's… More
Chelsea on the Rocks is a film that sounds like it should be an interesting and worthwhile film. Sadly, Abel Ferrara takes a setting and completely makes a mess of it. The film is so unfocused and unclear, that it ends up being story after story, in no particular order. It's unorganized to say the least. We, at times don't know who's talking or what in the fuck they are talking about. Unless, you recognized the person talking, good luck knowing who they are. There's no writing at the bottom telling us who they are. It's just endless "interviews" with people speaking about their personal experiences with the hotel. At one minute we will be hearing about the night of Sid and Nancy. The next minute, we hear about a guy having a stroke. Then we hear about the owner questioning a kid. Then about all the dealers. Then about ghosts. Alright a lot of shit happened in the hotel, I get it. Pick a fucking subject and go from there. I was extremely excited to watch this movie, but that initial excitement was gone after the first 15 minutes. For awhile, I thought the pointless interviews were just introductory stuff that Ferrara would dive deeper into later. Nope. He had no intention on letting the viewer have any idea on what was going on. He also had no intention on teaching us anything about the hotel. But worst, he had no intention on making a documentary. This is more like a lazy collage of video. Pointless. I respect Ferrara as a filmmaker. He's made some worthwhile movies in his career, but I have absolutely no idea what he was doing here. He's got an endless amount of people talking about their experiences, from Ethan Hawke to Milos Forman, with no clear idea on where he wants the movie to go or what he wants to say about it. An interesting subject is completely slaughtered here, and is instead made into a boring stream of consciousness.
Walter M

Throughout his stewardship of the venerable Chelsea Hotel, Stanley Bard aimed to encourage artists by either charging them cheap rents or deferring their rents but new management aims to run the hotel like a business, going so far as to evict some of its tenants. With his frustrating… More
Throughout his stewardship of the venerable Chelsea Hotel, Stanley Bard aimed to encourage artists by either charging them cheap rents or deferring their rents but new management aims to run the hotel like a business, going so far as to evict some of its tenants. With his frustrating documentary "Chelsea on the Rocks," feature filmmaker Abel Ferrara aims to capture this end of an era while also proving that making a documentary is not as easy as it looks. First, the movie is unfortunately steeped in hazy nostalgia, even with the hotel's worst moments like the deaths of Nancy Spungen and Sid Vicious, here recreated with a little help from Giancarlo Esposito and Adam Goldberg which as always welcome as they are also ruin the illusion. For the most part, the movie tends not to otherwise identify its less famous subjects and it would have been nice to get to know some of them. Yes, we all know who Ethan Hawke is and the conversation between Stanley Bard and former tenant Milos Forman is fun to watch. That's a part of the anecdotal style of the film which ignores the historical details behind the hotel(except for a plaque). And bringing up 9/11 is not terribly relevant but it does lead to my favorite line in the movie about how it reinforced New Yorkers' willingness to stay.

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Chelsea on the Rocks (2008)

Critic Reviews

Featured Audience Ratings

Melvin W

Walter M

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