This fascinating documentary does what all great documentaries do – takes a subject that might on the surface seem to be too niche or not particualarly interesting to the majority of people, and creates a whole world that it is hard not to be captivated by. The Last Guest of the Hollywood Motel brings together notions of family and blood-ties, gentrification, identity and celebrity, the right to anonymity and the creation of personal narratives, LGBTQ+ freedoms, the 1970s, love and legacy.
Seemingly unassuming and living a relatively small life in current day West Hollywood, two things were about to happen to a man named Tony Powell. Firstly, the passage of time and the commerical pressures on a building on Santa Monica Boulevard meant that this 75-year-old motel manager was about to be out of a home and out of a job. Secondly, a couple of documentarians would end up living two blocks away from the shuttered motel, and having noticed an old man sitting on a balcony there day and night, they came crashing into his life via some questions shouted up fom the street, a letter asking to make a short, and finally a chance encounter over a marguerita outside a cantina.
Premiered at Tribeca Film Festival 2025
Screened at Antenna Documentary Film Festival 2026
Directed by: Ramiel Petros and Nicholas Freeman
Produced by: Ramiel Petros, Nicholas Freeman, Pete Shilaimon, Mickey Liddell, Robbie Rogers, Andrew D. Corkin, Beau Ward
Executive Produced by: Greg Berlanti, Jacob Yakob, Joseph Yakob, Michael Glassman
Original Music by: Kat Vokes
Edited by: Davis Coombe A.C.E. and Alex Jablonski
Cinematography by: Zayd Ezzeldine and Gabriel Connelly
Starring: Tony Powell, his friends and family.
Some kind of grand reckoning may have always been on the cards for the ex- Norwich City Football Club star defender who walked out on a life of some celebrity in 1970s Britain, without a word to his friends or family, and even his kids. But maybe not; the involvement of the filmmakers can be felt throughout, at first building up trust and friendship just-off and sometime on- camera, to actively driving the story along and affecting choices and outcomes.
The directors of the film Ramiel Petros and Nicholas Freeman descibe themselves as digital natives, and admit they had thought it would be easier to find the people and fill in the gaps of Tony’s life online, but there really was a time when people could disappear, and whole life timelines weren’t available for public consumption.
Luckily, because Tony Powell was a footballer, there is glorious old sports footage, with its clipped British accent commentary, that takes us into the story, and clearly Norwich City football club were a strong source for interviews, as we see Tony’s baffled ex-colleagues muse on what could have happened to their old friend 40 years before.
Slowly the layers are expertly unpealed, just as the filmmakers navigate Tony’s rickashaying obfuscation, they show the audience more and more depth- the fear of coming out back home and the fleeing to the gay-friendly West Hollywood in the 70s, the realisation that Tony has a lot more loose ends back home than he was at first willing to admit, and the aching craving that his now elderly siblings still have to connect with him.
The Last Guest of the Hollywood Motel is a charming story of how one mans life, embued with secrets and lies, does a complete 180 – as he comes to terms with his past before it’s too late. In a complete juxtaposition of his entire way of being for 40 years, Tony Powell lets it all hang out, and allows the process to be documented. Its an incredibly brave thing to do, and for all his faults, the very act of making the film draws out oceans of sympathy for a simple man who didn’t have the tools to do things right.
There’s a marvelous twist at the end which long leaves the audience pondering about the meaning of family, and like the best soap-opera plot, how it really is hard to get away with anything.
