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Blank City
Blank City is a conventional documentary about an unconventional film movement. Centered around the No Wave filmmakers of New York City in the 1970’s and 80’s Blank City uses the conventional set up of archival footage, voice over, photo montages and talking head interviews to delve into the little explored collection of films and filmmakers that created art out of the chaos of the Lower East Side in New York. Armed with an immense amount of photos, obscure films and access to the people that were involved Celine Danhier creates a picture of a hodgepodge of talented artists who were determined to create a new type of independent film, based on the work of Cassavettes, but following a new set of rules and, as one interviewee puts it “breaking a few at the same time.”
Working within the urban decay that afflicted New York City during the 70’s and 80’s the No Wave movement was a helmed by a collection of talented individuals who lived amongst the filth and deprivation of the Lower East Side. Many of these individuals make an appearance in Blank City and attest to the danger of their lifestyles and in doing so suggest that this environment, one of drugs, squatting in abandoned buildings, stolen goods and minor criminality also enabled their artistic aspirations to come to fruition. Armed with likely stolen Super 8 and 16mm cameras these men and women, some recognizable like Basquiat, Steve Buscemi, Jim Jarmusch, others notable within smaller circles for their influence in creating these films and the downtown Avant Garde scene, created a multitude of films that reflected the world they inhabited. Rebelling against what they perceived to be a corrupted and capitalistic mainstream America these artists denied a commercial approach to their productions and instead used non professional actors, self taught cinematographers and untrained musicians. As John Lurie recalls “Nobody was doing what they were good at. The painters were in the bands. The musicians were making films.” And this was by design. They held the commercially refined in contempt and favored the gritty Avant Garde. Surreal in the subject matter but rough, crude and amateurish by intent these films exhibit the skills of their auteur directors and producers simply in their creation, and their lasting importance stand as a testament to the collaborative ethos these young artists adopted as they lived on the margins of society.
Undertaking the unenviable task of documenting an art movement that for its part aimed to avoid classification, title and, for a while, mainstream acclaim Celine Danhier's documentary does a terrific job evoking the artistic aesthetic and feeling of the time. Blank City does not so much paint a coherent, straight portrait of the No Wave movement but rather creates a crude mosaic of disparate yet collaborative artists. Like their own approach to the films they produced there is an organic feel to the assemblage of footage and interviews that do not fit into a strict linear structure. Instilled with the same rough nature of the source material Danhier’s film is a jumbled compilation of home videos, black and white photographs and interviews that jump between topics and personas with reckless abandon. But rather than detract from the subject the frenetic pacing and meandering trajectory embodies the spirit and process of the people it is discussing and the world they lived in. While detractors might find this sprawling film to be riddled with contradictions and thusly incoherent Danhier remains true to the heart of the multifaceted No Wave movement in its lack of precise definition. As Lydia Lunch, a premier player in the movement says when asked about the No Wave movement “It is defined by what it isn’t. What is it? I don’t fucking know.” And Celine Danhier does not attempt to suggest a concrete answer.
Sam Broadwin
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