1980's punk culture female director mini film fest...
Last night I watched Smithereens and Suburbia
stark.. er uh bleak... I dunno.. whatever it was, I enjoyed Suburbia (Penelope Spheeris, 1984) way more than I enjoyed Smithereens (Susan Seidelman, 1982). Both were good enough, but Smithereens was mostly boring. It was sort of like um.. Pat Benetar walking around missing the point and being too hip or too cool and too self absorbed for her own good. I don't know, I could have gotten the point in just a sort of short film. There's the super hip self absorbed chick... The sort of nice guy from out in naive normal america., the Rocker that she wants (who is in no better situation than anyone else, and is played by Richard Hell of the band Television...), some hookers, a pimp, a bunch of sort of normal people that are kind of fed up having to support her, etc... not much really happens, and as far as character development, we kind of fully understand each character as soon as they are introduced...
I enjoyed Suburbia, which had a 1984 version of Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers in it. It was dark, but I sort of loved it regardless. I could have done without the beginning sequence, but there WAS a reason for it, so I understand I guess. It isn't really apologetic, it doesn't go overboard to make us too sympathetic (well I guess it does try to some degree, and it succeeds to some degree). I liked this better than Repo Man, which is a logical edition to the collection here, even though it is less... realistic... obviously... but it fits the era and genre more or less - ish) Suburbia is about a big gang/family of punks living in a condemned house in ... Los Angeles? Suburbia... Their existence is bleak, but they don't work too hard to change it. As a kid I would have viewed this movie differently, but now.. well I am old, but I still really really liked it. I absolutely must See Decline of Western Civilization also by Spheeris, but a documentary on the punk music scene.. back in the day... but it doesn't seem to be on DVD.. well I haven't looked all that hard.
stark.. er uh bleak... I dunno.. whatever it was, I enjoyed Suburbia (Penelope Spheeris, 1984) way more than I enjoyed Smithereens (Susan Seidelman, 1982). Both were good enough, but Smithereens was mostly boring. It was sort of like um.. Pat Benetar walking around missing the point and being too hip or too cool and too self absorbed for her own good. I don't know, I could have gotten the point in just a sort of short film. There's the super hip self absorbed chick... The sort of nice guy from out in naive normal america., the Rocker that she wants (who is in no better situation than anyone else, and is played by Richard Hell of the band Television...), some hookers, a pimp, a bunch of sort of normal people that are kind of fed up having to support her, etc... not much really happens, and as far as character development, we kind of fully understand each character as soon as they are introduced...
I enjoyed Suburbia, which had a 1984 version of Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers in it. It was dark, but I sort of loved it regardless. I could have done without the beginning sequence, but there WAS a reason for it, so I understand I guess. It isn't really apologetic, it doesn't go overboard to make us too sympathetic (well I guess it does try to some degree, and it succeeds to some degree). I liked this better than Repo Man, which is a logical edition to the collection here, even though it is less... realistic... obviously... but it fits the era and genre more or less - ish) Suburbia is about a big gang/family of punks living in a condemned house in ... Los Angeles? Suburbia... Their existence is bleak, but they don't work too hard to change it. As a kid I would have viewed this movie differently, but now.. well I am old, but I still really really liked it. I absolutely must See Decline of Western Civilization also by Spheeris, but a documentary on the punk music scene.. back in the day... but it doesn't seem to be on DVD.. well I haven't looked all that hard.