This was the movie director Susan Seidelman made before she made "Desperately Seeking Susan" with Madonna. Wren and Susan are very similar characters, but Wren is more realistic, IMHO. I like both movies very much either way.
Both movies pay homage to a New York that is long gone. New York used to be someplace very interesting and very culturally-diverse. I miss the good-old-days. :)
I agree. Haven't seen Smithereens in ages. I wish it would be on TV again soon because there is no DVD in the UK. I also think that Desperately Seeking Susan is completely underated. It is one of those films where everything falls in to place – great looking film, fantastic cast and brilliant, diverse soundtrack.
The two films do seem a little linked beyond just Susan Seidelman directing.
I really like this movie and couldn't stand Desperately Seeking Susan. And you can tell they're made by the same person. I think the first one is more honest and I like that it doesn't have much of a plot. And it's a good portrait of a female hustler type.
shareI don't like either. I was 18 and living in the area in 1984. Actually saw Susan being filmed (I gave Madonna a mean look and she looked scared!). The director, writer was in her late 20's/early 30's at the time and got the scene and people completly wrong, as someone slightly too old for it naturally would. Most punkers I knew were not surly, empty vapid people expecting the world to offer them a living just for being different. A creampuff like Paul would've been beaten and his van stolen (not bought)inside of a day. Someone as gullible as Wren probably would've been raped and killed. Sad but true.
share
I totally agree dude, everyone in New York is either a vicious thug rapist or dead. Absolutely accurate assessment imho.
Agreed. This is a great movie, Susan sucks.
shareNowadays New York is just a big barrio mixed with a ghetto. The white and Asian ethnic groups have all moved to Jersey or Long Island.
"Well the good news is the whiskey works...." - Bill Murray in Lost in Translation
I started this thread talking about cultural diversity, and you guys have gone and turned it into a race/crime thing. Next thing you know, it'll become political, and then everyone will start fighting over who's fault it is.
Thanks for proving my point.
Well you can't divorce the 2. The New York of the 80s and 90s is the New York I love and know as well. It was the New York I was in the last time I was in the city.
But Little Italy barely exists any more. The old ethnic types are moving out to burbs and "growing up."
The ethnic groups are being absorbed quickly.
That's why most of the New Yorkers you see now are mainly latinos and Asians.(mainly South Asians and Koreans)
The old white ethnic neighborhoods are changing. In 99' I went with some old relatives who were immigrants from Germany to the old German area in Manhattan on 84th street to 88th street. The whole f-cking area is a barrio now.
The old art galleries and swank shops you saw on 90s movies are now run down Asian or hispanic-owned small businesses.
I went to L.A. a few years ago and I was shocked at what had happened to Santa Monica Blvd. The whole damn street now is either boarded up or consists of small Pakistani and Arab groceries, liquor stores, tobacco stores, and clothing shops.
My ex-girlfriend was a few years older than me. Her father lived in Los Angeles for a few years in the 90s. Long story short he used to take her shopping down in Beverly Hills and down Santa Monica - she was shocked when she went back in 2005. The whole place had turned into a f-cking barrio. L.A. is now 90 percent barrio.(don't believe me? Consult the population statistics of the city)
It's a hellhole now. Same with what New York is becoming.
The only movie stars who still live in New York live in upper crust high-rise condos with 24 hr. security. They don't stay in sh-tty apartments that are easily robbed.
Get your facts straight man.
The 2 are not mutually exclusive as you attempt to make them.
"Well the good news is the whiskey works...." - Bill Murray in Lost in Translation
I love the guy who doesn't live her telling me that my east village neighbors are all Latinos and Asians.
right.
Geez, i've lived in NY (Brooklyn) my whole life. I work and play in Manhattan, and all I see now are rich white people. Nobody else can afford to be there! (I'm white, but hardly rich).
That guy who doesn't live in NY and is talking about it is just a bitter racist.
As for Smithereens, I'm sorry, i had to turn it off. I found it boring. Desperately Seeking Susan, on the other hand, is one of my all-time favorites
It gets better as it goes along. I didn't think I liked it at first either, but after awhile it has this weird sort of charm and you really start to feel like you were there in that time and place. You also start to feel for Wren's character, which you don't for the first part of the movie. The ending is one of the best endings I've seen in a long time- very effective, and sad.
share[deleted]
evilhorn (Sat May 10 2008 18:19:06) Ignore this User | Report Abuse
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I love the guy who doesn't live her telling me that my east village neighbors are all Latinos and Asians.
right.
Truth be told, the East Village , during the eighties, did have a large Latino population and a smaller African American population. I still enjoyed "Smithereens", but Susan Seidelman must have worked very hard to NOT reflect that racial diversity on celluloid.
BTW, during the eighties I was there!
If you love and support Michael Jackson 100%, copy & paste this into your signature. We love MJ!
roomsixproductions on Sat Nov 25 2006 12:47:55
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This was the movie director Susan Seidelman made before she made "Desperately Seeking Susan" with Madonna. Wren and Susan are very similar characters, but Wren is more realistic, IMHO. I like both movies very much either way.
Both movies pay homage to a New York that is long gone. New York used to be someplace very interesting and very culturally-diverse. I miss the good-old-days. :)
Boy, you said it! I remember this New York City, I lived in the area during the eighties and experienced the area's environment. I also knew people like Wren and none of them fared well. I give Susan Seidelman huge credits for not romanticising characters like Wren, whose narcissism ultimately became their own undoing. "Smithereens" has got to be one of the top ten "time capsule' films I've ever seen. The east Village during that time period was EXACTLY like it's portrayed in this film. In fact, I enjoyed "Smithereens" much better than "Desperately Seeking Susan".
If you love and support Michael Jackson 100%, copy & paste this into your signature. We love MJ!