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Poster for Blank City

Blank City

New Cinema. New Wave. New York.

2011 · 1h 34m · UNRATED Documentary
Directed by Celine Danhier

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Overview

In the years before Ronald Reagan took office, Manhattan was in ruins. But true art has never come from comfort, and it was precisely those dire circumstances that inspired artists like Jim Jarmusch, Lizzy Borden, and Amos Poe to produce some of their best works. Taking their cues from punk rock and new wave music, these young maverick filmmakers confronted viewers with a stark reality that stood in powerful contrast to the escapist product being churned out by Hollywood.

Director and cast

Critics on Rotten Tomatoes

Top critics, in their words

All reviews
79%
Tomatometer
Fresh

Celine Danhier combines talking heads with a flood of Super-8 and 16-millimeter film clips to create this entertaining 2010 documentary about the explosion of punk energy that propelled New York City's art, music, and cinema underground.

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader
Fresh

As maddeningly undisciplined as the movie community she's exploring, but it still stands as a worthy historical document of NYC's recent past and the birth of a new way of making films.

Linda Barnard, Toronto Star
Fresh

As well as unearthing flavourful clips from films only determined cineastes have seen (War Is Menstrual Envy, You Killed Me First), French filmmaker Celine Danhier has reassembled many of the era's crucial players.

Stephen Cole, Globe and Mail
Fresh

This doc is interesting and worthy, but it is unlikely to send you seeking most of the films sampled in it. That was then, this is now, and it was fun while it lasted.

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Rotten

The biggest shortcoming of "Blank City" is that, despite its vivid portrait of the time period, we never get much sense of what the actual movies are like.

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post

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