![]() ![]() ![]() It’s hard to imagine anyone in the real world tolerating Wren for more than five minutes, but Berman’s engaging performance carries the entire film. By the end of the film, Wren has burned all her bridges with her habitual freeloading and unfulfilled promises. He drags Wren down with him while she continues to rebuff Paul. In reality, Eric is only out for himself and has no intention of leaving the city without first lining his pockets. Her destructive fling with Eric is little more than a fantasy she initially liked the sound of and sold to herself. Wren’s quest for success and self-improvement remains at the fore as she bounces around NYC, grafting and hustling. Thankfully Smithereens doesn’t segue into an Eric versus Paul scenario. It’s not long before Wren’s path crosses two very different men, Eric (real-life rocker Richard Hell essentially playing himself) and Paul (Brad Rinn), whose interest in Wren is spurned by her obvious attraction to Eric, the slouchy bad boy of the piece. This is a story of survival, and Wren is the film’s street-smart, tough-talking, gum-chewing heart. There’s something at once charming and intriguing about her. Not of drugs but of people, constantly running her mouth and attempting to fleece strangers. Smithereens’ spunky, never-take-no-for-an-answer heroine is in many ways a precursor to Madonna’s famous role as Susan Thomas, with certain character traits filtering through to Ann Magnuson’s Frankie Stone in Seidelman’s 1987 film Making Mr Right and later Emily Lloyd’s Cookie Voltecki in 1989’s Cookie.Īt first Wren is likeable enough, but as the film unfolds her true colours begin to show. The same year saw the release of several films similar in both tone and spirit to Smithereens: punk porno Café Flesh revenge drama Class of 1984 berserko sci-fi Liquid Sky and punk musical Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains, starring – of all people – Diane Lane. While punk was being quickly laid to rest in the UK thanks to the emergence of synth-based electro-pop, the US clung on thanks in part to legendary venues such as New York’s CBGBs. Released in 1982, the film coincided with new albums by Bad Religion, Flipper, Bad Brains and Descendents. Every shot is caked in urban decay, with the city featuring almost as a central character alongside daydreaming punk protagonist Wren (played with relish by Susan Berman). The film exists today as a time capsule of pre-gentrification New York. Susan Seidelman’s lo-fi New York debut, Smithereens, not only defined the director’s early career, serving as a precursor to her better-known Desperately Seeking Susan, it was also one of the defining post-punk films of the era. ![]()
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