Downtown ‘81 is a miracle caught on tape. The fact that this film ever got released is utterly baffling, it spent 20 years in production hell, and almost all of the audio got lost, leading to an extremely off kilter dub with atrocious lip syncing. Everything about this film’s creation was pointing towards it being complete trash, yet it isn’t.
So many people who watch Downtown ‘81 say that “this isn’t a real movie”, including the people who like it, but I would beg to differ. Dog Star Man is a film, and it’s entirely abstract, same goes for Blue, which is just a still frame of one color with narration over it. What people seem to forget is that film and all other forms of art are not bound by rules; all art is a form of communication.
Whether it be the resilience of the human spirit in Dog Star Man, or the lamenting of the AIDS epidemic in Blue, even the most off the wall movies are still films. If you measure a film by how well it communicates an idea, Downtown ‘81 excels in every aspect. New York is its own character here, there is virtually no plot, it’s just Basquiat roaming around grimy streets and trying to sell his paintings to pay off his rent. Characters come in and leave, spouting off meaningless poetic sounding gibberish and stilted lines, it feels like you’re right there with Basquiat, roaming the streets of New York, with nothing making any sense. My cousins lived in Jackson Heights for decades, and when I came to visit New York, I felt like I just walked into a new dimension, like some caricature of an urban metroplex.
Homeless beggars rant at you in tongues, you see bands playing on the street for spare change, and everything is hectic, ugly and trashy; and still, it’s comforting. I remember feeling a deep sense of nostalgia when I left New York, I never felt that sense of chaos anywhere else; until I saw this film. New York, despite its changes since the 80’s is still the hectic boiling pot that this movie portrays it as, the music scene is different, but still there, and the graffiti is as essential as the metro system. Downtown ‘81 communicates urban sprawl like few other films do. The cold nights, the warm sunsets, the seedy alleyways, all of it.
The fact that you have Basquiat, Vincent Gallo, DNA, James White, and Debbie Harry in the same film, is just a testament to how historically important this is, it’s lightning in a bottle. DNA’s no wave song “Blonde Redhead” is by far my favorite song here; and it perfectly illustrates why this film connected with me so well. Both the song and the film completely go against the rules of their medium, there’s almost no regard for rhythm or structure in both of these works, but they have their share of fans that appreciate how transgressive and moody both pieces of art are, and that includes me. “Blonde Redhead” makes me feel anxious and angry every time I listen to it, it feels like an auditory panic attack, and Downtown ‘81 feels like a stroll through 1980’s New York.
Some moments are ugly and baffling, but most of it is like a dream, a second life you never had. This film could put you into a trance, but you have to let it, don’t try to understand it, just feel it.
Downtown ‘81 is a miracle caught on tape. The fact that this film ever got released is utterly baffling, it spent 20 years in production hell, and almost all of the audio got lost, leading to an extremely off kilter dub with atrocious lip syncing. Everything about this film’s creation was pointing towards it being complete trash, yet it isn’t.
So many people who watch Downtown ‘81 say that “this isn’t a real movie”, including the people who like it, but I would beg to differ. Dog Star Man is a film, and it’s entirely abstract, same goes for Blue, which is just a still frame of one color with narration over it. What people seem to forget is that film and all other forms of art are not bound by rules; all art is a form of communication.
Whether it be the resilience of the human spirit in Dog Star Man, or the lamenting of the AIDS epidemic in Blue, even the most off the wall movies are still films. If you measure a film by how well it communicates an idea, Downtown ‘81 excels in every aspect. New York is its own character here, there is virtually no plot, it’s just Basquiat roaming around grimy streets and trying to sell his paintings to pay off his rent. Characters come in and leave, spouting off meaningless poetic sounding gibberish and stilted lines, it feels like you’re right there with Basquiat, roaming the streets of New York, with nothing making any sense. My cousins lived in Jackson Heights for decades, and when I came to visit New York, I felt like I just walked into a new dimension, like some caricature of an urban metroplex.
Homeless beggars rant at you in tongues, you see bands playing on the street for spare change, and everything is hectic, ugly and trashy; and still, it’s comforting. I remember feeling a deep sense of nostalgia when I left New York, I never felt that sense of chaos anywhere else; until I saw this film. New York, despite its changes since the 80’s is still the hectic boiling pot that this movie portrays it as, the music scene is different, but still there, and the graffiti is as essential as the metro system. Downtown ‘81 communicates urban sprawl like few other films do. The cold nights, the warm sunsets, the seedy alleyways, all of it.
The fact that you have Basquiat, Vincent Gallo, DNA, James White, and Debbie Harry in the same film, is just a testament to how historically important this is, it’s lightning in a bottle. DNA’s no wave song “Blonde Redhead” is by far my favorite song here; and it perfectly illustrates why this film connected with me so well. Both the song and the film completely go against the rules of their medium, there’s almost no regard for rhythm or structure in both of these works, but they have their share of fans that appreciate how transgressive and moody both pieces of art are, and that includes me. “Blonde Redhead” makes me feel anxious and angry every time I listen to it, it feels like an auditory panic attack, and Downtown ‘81 feels like a stroll through 1980’s New York.
Some moments are ugly and baffling, but most of it is like a dream, a second life you never had. This film could put you into a trance, but you have to let it, don’t try to understand it, just feel it.
