Férias Permanentes

Arg! I almost want to give this movie an 8.

But the thing is, although there are interesting parts, it is also often very dull.

I could see what he was going for but too often I felt that the scenes, although interesting and fun, were lacking in depth.

I did enjoy it overall but it was also a little hard to sit through.

This was my first Jarmusch and I am looking forward to watching more. It felt appropriate because Sunday they're screening his 2nd feature at a local theater.

It did have well directed scenes, and some felt very trance-like. The main actor is not fantastic but good enough, he does show acting talent so I'm curious if I'll see him in something again.

Leave it to Jim Jarmusch to create haunting and elusive visual stories with static camera and sparse dialogue. 'Permanent Vacation' is no masterpiece and stands far from Jarmusch's greatest movies, but it clearly has the magic touch that makes the film live, and it doesn't feel boring.

Jim Jarmusch made the film right after he dropped out of film school, and it is clear that he already had his unique vision and way of telling stories. The story follows slacker Allie (Chris Parker) on his quest to find the meaning of life. The film is seemingly plotless, without proper beginning and ending, not to mention the conclusion, but it has nice flow that ties all the quirky characters and pretentious philosophical conversations into whole.

'Permanent Vacation' is very important to see if you are interested where Jim Jarmusch come from (and also Richard Linklater as 'Permanent Vacation' was major influence to his own 'Slacker').

My review was written in September 1982 after a screening at a Chelsea (Manhattan) theater.

"Permanent Vacation" is a visually arresting narrative of alienation, hailing from the New York underground school of indie filmmaking. Debuting director Jim Jarmusch evidences a keen eye for composition, but his inexperience with actors makes the film an entry for specialized audiences only.

Picture limns vignettes in the life of a restless youth, Aloysious Parker (Chris Parker) living in lower Manhattan. Through his encounters with his girlfriend (Leila Gastil), hospitalized mother (Ruth Bolton) and casual encounters with people on the oddly deserted streets of the city, we learn of Parker's dropping out from the mainstream of life and his increasing introversion. He ultimately turns his back on the unyielding Gotham homeland, setting sail (in a striking final shot of the receding Manhattan skyline) for Europe.

Structured like a road movie (but traveling on foot), "Vacation" shares the tics that have endeared so-called "new wave" films to devotees of the form but limited their general dissemination: posed, awkward acting and cold, aloof stagings. Jarmusch's use of deep focus and well-lit still-lifes in 16mm show evidence of an embryonic talent, but the interaction among his thesps rings false. Supporting cast ranges from outrageous mugging (Maria Duval) to throw-away stony readings (Leila Gasti).

Through it all lead Chris Parker, who collaborated closely with the director in fashioning the central role, resembles a little boy in a home movie pretending to be an adult. His hipster delivery and physical mannerisms are painfully self-conscious.

Certainly, Jarmusch wanted to impart the feelings of alienation and indifference his characters are feeling, but an audience needs more entry points to empathize with the screen personages. There are more than enough "who cares" narratives already being cranked out by established filmmakers.

Musical score, involving clock-like rhythmic chimes and haunting sax solos by John Lurie, is an asset.

Jim Jarmusch is a filmmaker I'll always admire and will see anything he puts out. Perhaps though my expectations of his student film, Permanent Vacation, were a little high as I thought this could be the link to Stranger Than Paradise as Who's That Knocking and Mean Streets were perfectly connected for Scorsese. This is not the case, at least from what I got from the film. It's an exercise in the mundane and plot less, a tale of a vagabond type character who may or may not be nuts, who has an insane mother, and usually just loafs around the more deconstructed and decaying parts of lower Manhattan. There are some chances for it becoming more interesting than it does, and it's really because it's a case of a filmmaker finding his footing and not getting there yet.

A few bits are noteworthy in the kind of fascination that comes with watching Jarmusch's characters- like when Allie (Chris Parker) dances to the jazz record in his apartment, or the very random scene on the island. And there's a grin for a bit part for John Lurie. But there almost comes a point where the randomness becomes too diverting, and the script and (obvious) amateurs don't help matters. A monologue in a movie theater- which another commenter said was beautiful- is rambling and loses its point even as Jarmusch sorta goes back to it. Part of that scene is interesting, but it's before the monologue with the Nicholas Ray movie. Parker as an actor has that cool, quiet swagger that would be found in Stranger Than Paradise, but he also can't carry the dialog that well (particularly in the odd voice-overs).

The end of the film caps it off as he just decides to leave New York City for good on a ship. This might have a little more resonance if what led up to it had one feeling much more for Parker than distance. Permanent Vacation is like a condensed, rough, patch-work example of everything that is wrong and sometimes right with Jarmusch's work, like an early demo from some rocker who hasn't quite got the gist of everything from his inspirations. What's right with the work is that it's very well shot, particularly for an ultra low-budget drama, co-DP'd by later talent Tom DiCillo. In the end, I almost found that the film was like a Godard work, though the ones really from the 80s as opposed to those of the 60s. It's got an artist's eye and the occasional touch of grace, but it's also a jumble of a sketchpad of what's really in the filmmaker's gifts. It is unique in that you can tell who made it, that it's not another write-off of a future hack. That it doesn't really spell the promise of Jarmusch's other 80's classics is harder to figure.

Let's not put too much lipstick on this pig. Permanent Vacation ... cool title, memorable lead, nice style and all that, but ultimately an often boring movie. The only thing that keeps this above the water is the simple fact that director Jim Jarmusch followed it up with some of the best movies of all time. So it's cool to see him blunder his way through his first oeuvre.

The fact that our hero Allie is disenfranchised because his mother is in a mental institution might constitute the oldest plot device in the book. There is really no development, no suspense, nothing intriguing. Jarmusch commits the classic mistake of every first-time filmmaker; he has yet to learn that it's not enough to put a crass character before the camera. You have to make the viewer care about him. And unfortunately you can't do that by boring the crap out of the viewer. Allie is a high-strung, messed-up kid who could franchise disenfranchisement if only he could be bothered. He has a girlfriend that should rightfully be mine, who gets a kick out of dating a pretentious freeloader with a croaky voice. He meets a bunch of strange people, nicks a car, then gets the feck out on a boat. Cue amazing end sequence shot on a boat going away from Manhattan but looking back at it.

Check it out if you're a spotty movie boffin with no social life.

Give it a miss if you're more into Hannah Montana.