Smithereens.

Review #1987: Smithereens.

Cast: 

Susan Berman (Wren), Brad Rinn (Paul), Richard Hell (Eric), Nada Despotovich (Cecile), Roger Jett (Billy), Kitty Summerall (Eric's wife), Rbynne White (Landlady), and D.J. O'Neill (Ed) Directed by Susan Seidelman.

Review: 

“Back then – but maybe even more so today – the idea of wanting to be famous but not having any specific talent, that idea of reinvention, was everywhere. Back then, a lot of the bands, they weren’t exactly great musically, but they sort of had the energy and attitude that meant they could perform at CBGBs or Max's Kansas City, and in some ways the whole idea of Wren, who’s posting Xeroxed pictures of herself all over the subway, it’s a form of self-promotion that’s not all that different from taking a selfie and posting it on Instagram.”

Admittedly, the films that are best suited for featuring in women cinema are the ones you do not see coming. Susan Seidelman was born and raised in Pennsylvania to a hardware manufacturer and a teacher. She studied fashion and arts at Drexel University before finding an interest in filmmaking from a film appreciation class that talked about filmmakers (such as from the French New Wave). She studied at New York University with their film school. Her influence with this film came from her living experiences in the East Village apartment that she lived in when at NYU, which featured a changing musical scene. This was her debut feature film, which was shot in 16mm for $40,000 with a mix of "guerrilla style" filmmaking on the streets and subways of New York. She co-wrote the film with Peter Askin and Ron Nyswaner (he would later write Philadelphia a decade later) and she also served as co-producer. The film had a delay in production because the lead actress in Berman suffered a broken leg while on a fire escape for a scene. Several bands are featured for a song or two in the background, such as The Feelies, The Nitecaps, The Raybeats, Richard Hell and the Voidoids, Dave Weckerman, Singers and Players, and ESG. This film was the first independent film to be screened for competition at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival, which helped open the door for other opportunities. Her second film is likely the one she is most known for with Desperately Seeking Susan (1985), which had a handful of future stars and Madonna. A filmmaker for four decades, she has directed an array of films with a mix of comedy and drama to varying levels of recognition.

The best dramas have a bit of biting humor in them, as is the case with a film that involves a wannabee rock star trying to make their way across the country that has exactly one non-newcomer in Richard Hell, a punk rock artist in several bands of his day. It is a worthy time capsule of a New York in the 1980s that lingers in an enjoyably weird sense that looks at identity and self-fulfillment from a feminine perspective (Seidelman has been quoted as saying that looking at the film shows a New York City that doesn't exist anymore). Berman is exquisite in a devilishly rotten role of narcissism. You know that she isn't the nicest person in the world and yet you are still quite curious to see her on screen in all of her brazen mischief that comes with all of the wandering that she does, right from her first scene of her seeing a pair of sunglasses that happen to match her outfit and snatching them right from under them. Anything has clearly got to be better than languishing in New Jersey in her eyes, even if she has to use folks like a parasite. The idea of re-inventing oneself is something we can all see in ourselves because it still seems prevalent now more than ever in the age of social media. Her utter selfishness at what she thinks she wants out of herself and people makes for quite a compelling movie for 89 minutes that makes for capable drama in how much we see ourselves in her - her impulsive nature is both humorous and tragic in this weird way that she wants recognition to belong somewhere with her one distinct feature being resilience above all. Rinn makes a capable foil in "normalcy", one with plenty of patience to act against Berman that is her antithesis in being a face in the crowd. The scenes spent between the two are shaky because they are meant to be shaky, as if all Berman can think is about anything other than Rinn when in a van. Hell is the ideal punk in all of the cool characteristics that is just as much a user of people as Berman. I especially like a sequence where she is trying to make conversation with Hell before the lady that he was speaking to comes back and loudly tries to get her seat back, which results in petty amusement when they engage in a brief fight while Hell slowly walks away with a grin on his face. The final scene is probably the most striking in terms of showing the film at what it all really means when it comes to needing a place to spend one's time. The cycle begins anew with an outcome yet to be written in the process of trying to morph a persona that others will latch onto in curiosity rather than ignoring her as just a face in the crowd. As a whole, the enjoyability of the movie does not hinge on how much one likes the main character as much as it how much they enjoy the time spent asking about the nature of identity and resilience within a wannabee who (like probably a good deal of people) think they have all the wants in the world. 

Overall, I give it 9 out of 10 stars.

Next Time: Between the Lines.