Directed by Jim Jarmusch • 1980 • United States
Starring Chris Parker, Sara Driver, John Lurie
Jim Jarmusch’s first feature displays the first hints of the deadpan, minimalist-cool style that he would refine in his breakthrough STRANGER THAN PARADISE. Young, alienated hipster Aloysius Christopher Parker (Chris Parker) wanders an eerily vacant Manhattan searching for a sense of meaning while encountering an array of idiosyncratic characters. Downtown fixtures Sara Driver, Eric Mitchell, and John Lurie (who composed the film’s score) are among the eccentrics and vagabonds populating this existential urban odyssey.
Up Next in New York Stories
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My Dinner with André
Directed by Louis Malle • 1981 • United States
Starring Wallace Shawn, André GregoryIn this captivating and philosophical film directed by Louis Malle, actor and playwright Wallace Shawn sits down with his friend the theater director André Gregory at a restaurant on New York’s Upper West Side, ...
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Escape from New York
Directed by John Carpenter • 1981 • United States
Starring Kurt Russell, Lee Van Cleef, Isaac HayesIt’s the year 1997 and the dystopian hellscape of Manhattan has been turned into a maximum security prison. When the U.S. president’s plane is hijacked and crash lands on the island, it’s up to ha...
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Smithereens
Directed by Susan Seidelman • 1982 • United States
Susan Seidelman established her distinctive vision of New York City with this debut feature, the lo-fi original for her vibrant portraits of women reinventing themselves. After escaping New Jersey, the quintessentially punk Wren (Susan Berman)...
