Early experimental film by Chantal Akerman will be a study in boredom and frustration for many viewers, while the more avant-garde minded will find it stunning. For just over 60 minutes, Akerman’s camera explores the colours and shapes that make up a seedy hotel in Manhattan, moving from the ground floor to the top with a series of compositions without sound (the whole film is silent, actually) that dazzle with their richness and control. It’s a wonderful sense of atmosphere to get into, though I don’t know that the entire experience deserved to be stretched out over a feature; a mind-soothing short would have done just as well. Still, watching this one and News From Home gives one a wonderful sense of where a better movie like Les Rendez-Vous d’Anna comes from.