Hotel Monterey
{{Short description|1972 film by Chantal Akerman}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{About|the 1972 silent film directed by Chantal Akerman|the historic hotel in Virginia|Monterey Hotel}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Hotel Monterey
| image = Hotel_Monterey_Criterion.jpg
| alt = Poster showing a room of the Hotel Monterey, with the film title in uppercase black text
| caption = Poster used for the Criterion Collection release
| director = Chantal Akerman
| producer = Chantal Akerman
| writer = Chantal Akerman
| starring =
| music =
| cinematography = Babette Mangolte
| editing = Geneviève Luciani
| studio =
| distributor =
| released = {{film date|df=y|1989|6|11|U.S.}}{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068725/releaseinfo |title=Hôtel Monterey (1973) |website=IMDb}}
| runtime = 62 minutes
| country = {{hlist|Belgium|U.S.}}
| language = Silent
| budget =
| gross =
}}
Hotel Monterey is a 1972{{cite web |title=Hotel Monterey, Belgique, 1972, 62 minutes |url=https://jeudepaume.org/evenement/projection-hotel-monterey-chantal-akerman/ |website=Jeu de Paume}}{{cite journal |title=Hotel Monterey |journal=Cinéma |issue=180 |date=September–October 1973}}{{cite journal |title=Hotel Monterey |journal=La Revue du Cinéma / Image et Son |issue=275 |date=September 1973}} American silent documentary structural film directed by Chantal Akerman.{{cite web |title=Hotel Monterey |url=https://www.criterion.com/films/20977-hotel-monterey |website=The Criterion Collection |publisher=The Criterion Collection |access-date=13 May 2025}} It is Akerman's first feature film.
Synopsis
The film consists of a series of silent long takes shot in a hotel in New York City. Shots are meticulously staged to create visual patterns and optical illusions as the film slowly explores several different parts of the hotel, ranging from austere and claustrophobic basement corridors to hotel rooms—some occupied, some not—to skylines of neighboring building roofs and water towers shot from the rooftop.
Location
The hotel, located at 215 West 94th Street in Manhattan, opened in 1914 as the Hotel Apthorp. In 1916, the name changed to Hotel Monterey, which it retained until 1976. By 2008, it had become Days Hotel, part of the Days Inn/Quality Inn chain.{{cite web |last=Grutchfield |first=Walter |date=2010 |title=Monterey Hotel / Newton Hotel |url=https://www.waltergrutchfield.net/signs5.5.html |access-date=16 April 2021 |website=Walter Grutchfield Signs}}
Release and re-release
The Criterion Collection released it through their Eclipse series in 2010, as part of a set titled Chantal Akerman in the Seventies that included four feature films Akerman directed in the 1970s as well as a number of short films,{{cite web |last=Kehr |first=Dave |date=31 January 2010 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/31/movies/homevideo/31kehr.html |title=The Evolving Vision of a Belgian Auteur |work=The New York Times}} and again in 2024 as part of the set Chantal Akerman Masterpieces, 1968–1978.{{cite web |last=Cole |first=Jake |title=Blu-ray Review: Chantal Akerman Masterpieces, 1968–1978 on the Criterion Collection |url=https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/chantal-akerman-masterpieces-1968-1978-blu-ray-review/ |website=Slant Magazine |date=26 January 2024}}
In 2013, Akerman introduced Hotel Monterey, along with two other films, La Chambre and News from Home, at the 11th annual "Save and Project" film series at the New York Museum of Modern Art.{{cite web |title=Save and Project: The 11th MoMA International Festival of Film Preservation |url=https://www.moma.org/calendar/film/1391 |website=Museum of Modern Art}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|0068725}}
{{Chantal Akerman}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hotel Monterey}}
Category:1970s avant-garde and experimental films
Category:American documentary films
Category:Belgian documentary films
Category:Documentary films about New York City
Category:Films directed by Chantal Akerman
Category:Surviving American silent films
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