Blank Generation

..."Blank Generation" is at least worth a look if you enjoy Richard Hell's music. I love his stuff, personally, so the few live performances in the film are definite highlights. Other than that, it's a pretty boring love/hate story between Hell and French ex-Bond Girl Carole Bouquet (sp? oh well...).

Hell is no actor, and neither is anyone else in the movie. In fact, all the acting flat out sucks. One scene which actually shows a little promise is the one between Billy (Hell) and Nada (Bouquet) as they drive along in his car trying to decide what to do on a dreary New York Friday afternoon. After Billy changes his mind three or four times, Nada freaks out and throws him out of the car. That's about it. Even that scene is more comic than anything -- so if that was the intention, great, but if the director was trying to coax some drama out of the script there, well, he failed. Even Hell is almost cracking a smile during the scene.

Still... the live performances ("Liars Beware," "Blank Generation" and "Love Comes in Spurts") are hot stuff. Too bad there are only three live numbers in "Blank Generation", and a little snippet of Hell "recording" "New Pleasures" is sort of goofy, but cool. So unless you're a big Hell fan, or want to see the barely five minute long Andy Warhol interview sequence, skip it.

This entry in the long, strange directorial career of Fassbinder protege Ulli Lommel tells of the on-again, off-again romance of French TV interviewer Nada (Carole Bouquet) and upcoming rock singer Billy (Richard Hell) with a minimum (not quite nada) of things actually happening. Billy and Nada split up and re-form as often as Albert Brooks and Kathryn Harrold in MODERN ROMANCE, although that was supposed to be a comedy. Nada in the meantime takes up with a journalist played by Lommel himself, who, in scene after scene, tries to land an interview with Andy Warhol and gets turned down. Then Andy finally agrees-- score one for the virtue of persistence. Billy's own side-romance is with Lizzy, a punk filmmaker played by Lommel's wife Suzanna Love.

Hell has spoken of how self-conscious he felt acting in this film, and he does have a deer-in-the-headlights look in more than a couple scenes. Billy's songs and band (the Voidoids) are those of Hell himself, and we hear the same few Voidoids songs over and over. Even the greatest pieces of music require a break every once in awhile, but not for Lommel.

BLANK GENERATION (not to be confused with the earlier documentary THE BLANK GENERATION, which covered the same New York punk scene as this work of fiction) apparently was written and shot on the fly, giving it a slapdash aesthetic that parallels that of the New York No Wave underground film scene of the time. The real interest, like that of the documentary, is its glimpse of New York at the time of the inception of its history-making punk rock scene, centered at the famous CBGB bar in the run-down East Village of Manhattan. We get to see not only the interior and the entrance of the bar, but what was next to and across the street from it at the time as well!

But sadly, that's all BLANK GENERATION has going for it-- the cultural-history aspect. Lommel's horror films of this time-- THE BOOGEY MAN, THE DEVONSVILLE TERROR-- were fun in and of themselves, but if you're not a fan of Hell and early punk rock, there's little reason to watch this one.

For archival value alone, this is a great document of one of the originators of US punk, Richard Hell. But like most New York downtown hipster footage from that era, as a film it's pretty lame. Badly acted but with some interested ideas and commentary on the news media. Part of this is justified by theorizing about punk as romantic decadence, throwing out the notion of quality for the sake of "keeping it real". Well, twenty five years on, a lot of the punk "honesty" is just plain boring. Basically, get this movie for the live clips of the Voidoids playing in CBGB's, and forget the rest. Even Andy Warhol can't save this one. What I want to know is, how much of this movie was based on the relationship between Hell and Lizzy Mercier?

How much you enjoy Blank Generation will depend on how big a fan of Richard Hell you are. If, like me, you think he was the coolest, most talented, most intelligent, and most charismatic 70s punk, then this movie is a must see! Hell does what he does best, being MR COOL, Carole Bouquet is stunningly beautiful, and Warhol puts in a brief but memorable appearance. To top it all off the film is full of the music of Hell and The Voidoids (Robert Quine, Ivan Julian and Mark Bell) who are really on fire. Their live performances are sensational and are worth watching this for alone. A forgotten punk classic.

I was glad when it was over. It went surprisingly quickly for a dull film. Gives you scenes of a lovey-dovey/i'm leaving you romance between a new wave musician and his French TV documentary interviewer/filmer in New York. It has the atmosphere of the dreary New York streets. No particularly interesting characters save for the two leads, and another filmmaker girl. I personally like the music of Richard Hell and the Voidoids which is the band performing a few songs, staged right in the CBGB's club. Overall it's a dreary, blase' show; the lead character doesn't seem to really care about anything. The real-life character was a heroin user, but no mention of drugs is made. The last surprise at the end was the high-point.