Blank City

As far as the quality of this film, it's very well made. Great interviews with a myriad of directors and actors make for an interesting watch on a lazy weekend day. As far as the content though...meh

If your not familiar with this genre of film-making, it won't take you long to figure out these filmmakers were the equivalent of the music Punk Rock pioneers of the day...although...not near as relevant or successful.

The main goal of this documentary is show fans how/when/where this style/genre of film making started. You get to find out why these individuals started making films the way they did. They were odd, gory, abstract and stuff you wouldn't normally watch...but hey, it was the 70's and we know what a bizzaro decade that was. So this was the excuse to shock and awe the audience by putting these pointless exercises on celluloid.

The main interest for me was the interviews with Jim Jarmusch and Steve Buscemi. Yeah it's the Steve Buschemi we all know and love. He was in one of the early one of these films...it was where he started his acting career. Out of the whole assortment of Directors they talk to and mention Jim Jarmusch is the only one, to this day, who gets mentioned in film circles as a really good film maker. Why? simple...because even though his films are still kind of odd, they are watchable. They have a goal at the end of each one. They're not meandering collages of part shock and art film with no point. They aren't just moving images...they're actual stories.

It was funny to sit and listen to some of these directors sit and talk about how great their stuff was and I can guarantee that 99% of the film viewing world hasn't even heard of these people. This is one of these cases where it's in New York so it's important and has meaning and it sets a trend. Well, problem is...it didn't. These were just poor broke people who ran around with 8mm cameras trying to fit into a scene in NY at the time and now they can sit back and talk about their triumph...or their perceived triumph.

Unlike other reviewers here I went into this film at a film festival knowing (due to the trailer available online) that this was a documentation of No Wave cinema, a subject about which I knew little, and now know some. While not claiming that the films themselves were anything other than creations of people who felt that their city was collapsing around them, Blank City is more interested in collecting the (far more interesting) stories behind the creation of the films and the nature of the filmmakers environment. While there are some familiar faces, the true stars are relative unknowns, those who risked all they had to make spontaneous no-budget films of a fascinating time in a fascinating city. I highly recommend this as a quick trip through an utterly mesmerizing time and am eternally grateful that these film-clips have a chance to be seen, the music heard and these remarkably lucky and brave people have their (often hilarious and sometimes moving) stories told.

Blank City is about the underground New York City film-makers who sprang up in the post-punk years. The films that were made were amateurish and technically raw; they were made with next to no money and they featured for the most part non-actors; their subject matter was often shocking and confrontational. Without doubt, the punk spirit was very much alive in these movies. It was known as the No Wave movement.

I saw this at the Edinburgh International Film Festival and I'm going to be upfront here and admit that I was under the impression from the EIFF brochure that this was going to be about something else. It sounded like it was going to cover the post-punk scene in the grimy streets of NYC circa 1980. But really, this documentary is more or less only about these underground films and filmmakers. While many of the participants are fascinating and some of the films seem odd and of-their-time enough to be of interest, I just felt that for my tastes the material was stretched out to breaking point. I was hoping that the music scene would be given some exposure too, to compliment proceedings but that just didn't happen. Having said that, having heard some Lydia Lunch recordings in the past this may not have been strictly a bad thing. I guess I was essentially hoping for NYC post-punk music to be covered more generally, rather than specifically the No Wave movement, of which I am not keen on at all. At least in the 60's the art films of Andy Warhol had The Velvet Underground to soundtrack them.

It's certainly interesting in places and occasionally funny. But it does get a bit wearing after a time. This would most probably have made a much better short film; it doesn't in truth really justify its feature length as there just isn't enough development in content or trajectory. It's an admirable effort but sadly it just wasn't for me.

I saw this movie in NYC at the IFC. I loved its approach, the way NYC is depicts, it is a raw and truthful documentary. I would advise any NYC lover to go see it. It helps you understand the city and its artistic influence better. It makes you really realize the energy that is lying and present in NYC. At the end of the documentary you manage to get introduced to an artistic movement but it also inspires you. You realize that you can make it, as long as you have passion a hint of madness and you are willing to work hard. I was also so impressed by the team behind the movie and i really hope to see them more on screen. To sum up, i love this documentary because i was introduce and i understood a new subject that i knew nothing about and it inspired me, it lift my spirit up.

I was really intrigued by this film and found myself very satisfied with the content and execution. Considering the amount of emphasis placed on the rise of independent film and the fall of the studio system, the amount of time talking about the following generation pales in comparison. Independent film never disappeared, it just became briefly overshadowed by larger block-buster films like The Godfather, Jaws, Star Wars. Granted, these are all enjoyable films, but it's refreshing to see a glimpse into the lives of the independent filmmakers of the 1970's. It's sort of a testament to the idea that these now-pivotal figures didn't necessarily struggle through obscurity as much they reveled in it, instead embracing an anarchistic style of creativity that really came to define them and make them such poignant artists.