Blank City

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Audience Member Great documentary. If you recognize any names involved, you should see it! Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/13/23 Full Review walter m "Blank City" is a spirited and informative documentary about a group of low budget filmmakers operating in New York City in the 70's and 80's. While I could point out that the documentary could have used a better organizational and chronological structure, I think at the same time that would have clashed with the punk music like aesthetic of the movies that were made using 8mm cameras that were bought, stolen or borrowed.(I'm no legal expert but I am pretty sure that the statute of limitations has expired on all the financing via petty larceny.) Of them, some of the names might seem familiar to the casual observer like Jim Jarmusch and Steve Buscemi. And it admittedly did take a few minutes to remember where I recognized Richard Kern, now mostly known for nude photography, from. So, it is perhaps ironic that success and money killed this nascent movement, especially the gentrifying of the Lower East Side of Manhattan, home turf for so many of these artists. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Documentary coverage of the "no Wave" film movement from NYC in the late 70s and early 80s (also known as new cinema) and the later "cinema of transgression". Danhier manages to track down most, if not all, of the major players in the scene, including filmmakers Scott and Beth B, Vivienne Dick, Eric Mitchell, Jim Jarmusch, Nick Zedd, Richard Kern, and James Nares, and stars Lydia Lunch, James Chance, John Lurie, Steve Buscemi, and Ann Magnuson (as well as early affionado Thurston Moore who turns up in every other documentary of this kind). Fascinating to see these talking heads speak and more importantly to see clips of films otherwise difficult to see. But one wonders how the story would have been told differently by Marc Masters who details the movement in Chapter 5 of his excellent book No Wave. To me, the almost total exclusion of the parallel no wave music scene is a serious omission. But Blank City does take you to a time and place that no longer exists and which was very influential on the underground loves of many in my social circle. Let's hope it helps to make the films more available. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/04/23 Full Review Audience Member Gritty, a little bland, but interesting if you've ever wondered about the creative process with no budget. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/05/23 Full Review Audience Member i watched it just becaude i'm a big fun of independent film . i would love to see a version of actul films Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/31/23 Full Review Audience Member awesome doc but they omitted talking about one of my fave ovies-"liquid sky" Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Read all reviews

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