Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Free tonight: Richard Hell, the 1980s in 'Smithereens'

From the EV Grieve inbox...


The Seward Park Branch Library is pleased to announce the first program of the Lower East Side Heritage Film Series: the Eighties. Tonight at 6:30 in our Community Room. In this installment of our FREE monthly series we will be showing on VHS:

Smithereens (1982, 89 min., VHS)

Susan Seidelman directs her first feature film: Wren is nineteen and determined to break into punk rock. The pieces of her world are scattered over Lower Manhattan: a grungy Lower East Side apartment, the abandoned train yards along the Hudson River, and the helter-skelter world of East Village rock clubs. It doesn't matter that Wren can't sing, write songs, or play an instrument. She's desperate to make the scene, and desperation makes people do dangerous things.

Starring Susan Berman, Bran Rjin and Richard Hell. With music by the Feelies, ESG, and Richard Hell and the Voidoids.

Seward Park Branch Library
192 East Broadway

And here's a trailer of sorts...



And here's an article that Seidelman wrote for Filmmaker magazine about making the movie.
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6 comments:

  1. AnonymousMay 15, 2012 at 6:48 AM

    BEST movie EVER. BEST soundtrack EVER..

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousMay 15, 2012 at 10:35 AM

    Seward Park has become a place for Yuppies. The Heritage Film Series is yet another nostalgic showcase of the eighties. This is the trend. Everything is about what it was and how it's over.

    What it does, is it makes everything that is going on in Seward Park seem ok, which it is not. These Yuppies and their kids are set on turning Seward Park into a white upwardly mobile suburan neighborhood that they want it to be.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousMay 15, 2012 at 10:41 AM

    woo hoo!

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousMay 16, 2012 at 2:55 AM

    will they have GRINGO next?

    ReplyDelete
  5. THE NOTORIOUS L.I.B.E.R.A.T.I.O.N.May 16, 2012 at 4:32 PM

    Smithereens and Desperately Seeking Susan are my two favorite '80s movies. Susan Seidelman nailed it with both of them.

    When I have the time I'll do a 'then and now' post for Grieve of the film's locations so we can all have a good cry!

    The Peppermint Lounge on 5th Avenue is now a Bebe.

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousMay 16, 2012 at 9:18 PM

    I like both films too but I agree with anon 10:35. Great point. Just rent the films. Gentrifiers use the past to show that's it's over. The catch is that people will like the films.

    ReplyDelete

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