I’ve been on a bit of a Jim Jarmusch kick lately, powered by some lucky DVD finds at thrifts (you can find near *anything* at thrift store DVD shelves these days, if you’re willing to dig past the many copies of the “Harry Potter” films and the always-present “Inception”), so when I came across this documentary while searching for stuff on Lydia Lunch (I had a couple of her records in the 80’s, and had a “wonder where she is now” moment), and I checked the list of luminaries in the cast list, I was sold.
And, yeah – it’s a cornucopia of the early 8mm films from Jarmusch, John Waters, the B’s, Eric Mitchell and more, interviews, stories and a snapshot of the young punk artists, musicians and “no wave” filmmakers of the late 70’s & early 80’s in Manhattan. Absolutely worth a watch! (:
“Blank City” Trailer
“Blank City” Full Movie:
I remember enjoying “Coffee and Cigarettes” and “A Night on Earth” years ago. So it was fun spotting Jarmusch in the movie “Smoke” while rewatching it a couple of months back as that detail had eluded me when I first caught this film back in 1995.
To tie it all back to typewriters, Smoke was written by Paul Auster, champion of the Olympia SM9 (which he likely used to write the movie).
Nice! “Night on Earth” is on my watchlist, so pretty soon. (:
Oh, Lydia! This is the last place I’ve ran across her:
https://lydianspin.libsyn.com/
Now I might have to find “Blank City”, especially seeing Ann Magnuson is in it. Had a bit of a crush on her back in the 80s, after seeing her on “Alive from Off Center”…. (There are twisted memories of a giant Gumby doll, and the line, “ No matter how badly you get panned in the ‘Village Voice’…”. Twisted, misspent youth, indeed…)
Oh, ha! Of course she has a podcast :D