La Chambre: In Chantal Akerman's early short film, we see the furniture and clutter of one small apartment room become the subject of a moving still life-with Akerman herself staring back at us. This breakthrough formal experiment is the first film the director made in New York.
Hotel Monterey: Under Akerman's watchful eye, a cheap Manhattan hotel glows with mystery and unexpected beauty, its corridors, elevators, rooms, windows, and occasional occupants framed like Edward Hopper tableaux.
News From Home: Letters from Akerman's mother are read over a series of elegantly composed shots of 1976 New York, where our (unseen) filmmaker and protagonisthas relocated. Akerman's unforgettable time capsule of the city is also a gorgeous meditation on urban alienation and personal and familial disconnection.