Smithereens (1982) User Reviews (35)

Smithereens

[Scarecrow-88 · 8/10 · 18 May 2007]

Terrific poverty-row character study about Wren(Susan Berman)a young woman who reckons herself a possible punk-rock manager, desperately latching onto Eric(Richard Hell), a supposed rock "star" who she sees as a future success in the making. Paul(Brad Rijn), a kind-hearted portrait artist from Oklahoma, living out of his van, leaves his "home"(..and heart)open to Wren. Wren has always been the type to use those willing to treat her with kindness, and Paul only realizes this all too well when she often takes his treatment towards her for granted often retreating back to him when Eric rejects her advances. Wren sees an opportunity(..basically in her own naive mind)to represent Eric when he mentions possibly heading for LA with the goal of rock stardom seemingly in reach. But, as we see through this little film, dreams are just that..dreams.

I think this film gets it's point across well with director Susan Seidelman's camera sticking it's nose into the ugly, garbage streets of Greenwich village where dreams go to die. Wren is a casualty of her own making..she sees a bright future which, sadly, will never be because her head's in the clouds instead of reality. How long would Paul put up with her antics, using his many good traits(..especially his van)because she has nowhere else to go. Wren has no prolonging wish to go back to where she came, New Jersey, because that would ultimately mean failure. There are others, besides Paul, she tries manipulating for the betterment of her own condition..a family member for money and a pal for a place to stay(she's often confessing that Paul's van is a bummer to sleep in). She is primarily an intruder, she only swarms into the lives of others when they can benefit one person..Wren herself.

Some interesting things occur to Paul, an outsider, such as a hooker who offers him a sandwich and a pimp who really wants his van. Paul has designs on leaving New York as this just isn't his kind of place. Where will Wren retreat to(..and, better yet, what will she resort to)if Paul leaves and Eric rejects her once and for all? The ending freezes the screen with Wren confronted with a question by some stranger looking for a good time..with nothing at all, what would be her answer? There's an element of sadness and bleakness to this slice-of-life that I think makes it a really great gem for discovery..you add the very low budget camera work right on the streets and this film feels all too real.

Where's the soundtrack? This is great.

[macabro357 · 7/10 · 8 May 2003]

I don't care what the naysayers below think. I like this little film.

And I think the soundtrack blows the pants off of Penelope Spheeris' "Decline of Western Civilization" that was released not too long before this one. I'd love to find the "Smithereens" soundtrack on CD!

Both this and "...Civilization" deal with the U.S. punk culture of the early 80s with this film clearly being the better of the two, imo. Saw 'em both at the same time.

Great little story with a good feel for New York of the early 1980s, and the shallowness of the scene during that time. It really depicted what a loserville the place really was.

I really felt for the Wren character and the rejection she continually faced, much of which was her own doing. She should have went back to New Jersey and made something of herself.

Btw, whatever happened to Susan Berman, anyway? Why hasn't she done more films?

my imbd rating: 7 out of 10

Depressing but impressive

[preppy-3 · 8/10 · 29 August 2007]

Wren (Susan Berman) is a restless young woman trying to break into the music scene in NY of the early 1980s. A young, handsome and trusting man named Paul (Brad Rijn) falls for her--but she just uses him and tries to hook up with self-centered Eric (Richard Hell) who says he has contacts to get a career going.

This was a very impressive directorial debut by Susan Seidelman. It was made on a very low-budget and had mostly nonprofessional actors. It was surprisingly a favorite with critics and a success with art house college audiences of 1982. However it's pretty much disappeared since then. It's easy to see why. The clothes, music and attitudes are all clearly from the early 1980s. Most college kids today wouldn't know what to make of this. Still it's a good movie and, as a college kid from that era, I can honestly say this caught the look and feel of that time expertly. Purportedly this is also a pretty accurate portrayal about how the Village was way back then--hard to believe it was 25 years ago.

The film itself is gritty and negative and looks cheap--but that's because it was and it actually helps the movie. Seidelman's direction was actually pretty assured considering it was her first feature movie. Also, for the most part, the acting is good--Rijn in particular stands out. The only negatives I can think of is that is a depressing movie and Berman is miscast. She's a good actress but seems far too intelligent for the character she's playing.

Worth catching--especially for men and women who were in college in the early 1980s. It will really take you back! I give it an 8.

excellent film by the director of "desperately seeking susan"

[FilmBoy999 · 22 May 2000]

i quite disagree with "dehlia"'s comment, this movie is anything but dull. It is an excellent film that does seemingly document the early new york style of punk/new wave rock and it's main character Wren who is as mentioned on a road to nowhere. The film comes off as a really excellent student feature, and it was the first film by the director of Desperately Seeking Susan and She -Devil. You can definitely see remnants of the Wren character in the character Madonna plays in "susan" and the film doesn't have a big sappy ending which is what makes it so interesting, it starts off like a comedy and then reveals itself as a more serious drama. It reminded me a great deal of the films of the French New Wave. Definitely worth seeing.

Late-night VHS classic

[AllstonRockCity · 7/10 · 29 March 2008]

Things to be aware of: This movie is a downer.

This movie is interminably slow at times. Feel free to skip forward with the remote. There is not a lot of plot to miss.

Having offered those two disclaimers, this movie is definitely worth watching if you are inclined towards depressing tales of urban outcasts. Like most, this one centers around a subculture, but is really about the kind of tragic dreamers that seem drawn to failure like moths to a porch light.

What makes this story so compelling in spite of the rather amateurish acting and film-making is the gradual, offhand, and absolutely realistic ways in which the different characters casually dig themselves into ever more inescapable holes.

This is a story not about the 80s or punk rock, it's a story about young people with unfocused ambition who are sucked in by the glamor of the scene, whatever it may be. These are the fashion victims we've all known: people who have a new best friend every week, with whom are going to write a screenplay, go on a road trip, start a band, whatever. The people who are too busy and too cool to be cared about unless you're going to make them famous, people who do not realize that the glittering lights of the city at night are just stores and bars, who keep thinking that one of them is going to turn out to be magic, who see everyday life as some kind of hoax that they won't be conned into falling for.

What is beautiful about "Smithereens" is the perfect depiction of the blind, frantic pursuit of a better, purer, more exciting life that leads to the opposite. The sad, romantic naiveté that looks for rescue in a bar at 2am is a target for every kind of leech whose belief in magic has burned out and turned to cynical opportunism. The neophyte victims gradually and seamlessly become predators themselves, preying on others who are looking for late-night magic. Dreams of romance, fame, and adventure become grubbing squabbles over sex and money and these dreamers don't even see it happening until, disdainful of everything, they end up with nothing.

Time capsule

[jellopuke · 7/10 · 17 November 2019]

If you want to watch movie about a horrible, horrible person, then this is for you! Otherwise it's a neat look at a dead new york starring characters that live on the fringes. A great soundtrack too!

Nu-Wav "Documentary"

[MarquisDD · 9/10 · 15 March 2000]

There's something about black and white checkered miniskirts in 1982 that sums up an entire era.

"Smithereens" documents a brief history of an archetype that many are familiar with: the Hip Urban Street Punk on a Path to Nowhere.

What makes this film superb is that it treats the subject with a frank honesty rarely seen in such a genre. No happy endings, convoluted plot points or moral judgments are imposed upon Wren as she bumbles about New York trying to make her way.

She is neither likable nor despicable. Belonging to no demographic, she creates her own. She has vague desires, but no goals. And as such an aimless character, the film's closing shot is quite perfect.

"Smithereens" is an engaging, refreshingly stark 'documentary' that does not gloss over its themes with the glitz and glitter otherwise prevalent in the early 80's. It successfully encapsulates a time and a lifestyle rarely portrayed correctly, except maybe in "Sid & Nancy".

Portrait of a female psychopath.

[torrascotia · 6/10 · 12 September 2018]

This is another hard to find movie from the 80s which although is set in the punk scene, could easily be any scene where people have lofty aspirations of success. Many of the characters reminded me of big brother contestants, social media wannabees or those who fill nightclubs and bars trying to look cool and portray an image of success while at the same time being broke, unsuccessful and lonely. They live in a world which is all surface. The story concerns Wren, a female psychopath who spends her time stringing along friends and family to put a roof over head, food and money. This is unusual as we rarely get top see movies which focus on sociopathic women who arent serial killers. Examples of her psychopathic behaviours include pathological lying, grandiose sense of self-worth, cunning/manipulative, lack of empathy, failure to accept responsibility for actions, need for stimulation, parasitic lifestyle, poor behavioural controls, promiscuity, lack of realistic long term goals, impulsivity and irresponsiblity. Thats almost every item of the psychopathic scale! e, social At the same time she is intent on breaking into the music business and throws herself at any male she thinks can serve as her route to the lavish lifestyle she believes she is entitled to. The movie is basically a bunch of scrapes that Wren manages to get herself into based on her reckless behaviour and how these eventually test the patience of everyone around her. It could almost be seen as a black comedy. I have to disagree with many of the reviews on here about this movie. I simply did not find the ending of this bleak at all, if anything it has a happy ending if you like karmic endings. Its also a wonderful portrayal of a female psychopath which is rarely seen in cinema.

Brilliant punk rock film

[werewolf138 · 10/10 · 31 December 2003]

(SPOILERS, kind of)

I love this movie. Susan Berman plays Wren, a trash queen who finds herself homeless and living in a van with her new admirer, Paul, as she attempts to shove her way into punk rock with Eric (Richard Hell), who isn't exactly a great guy to trust.

This is a great movie if you're just tired of nice settings, peppy protagonists, and happy endings, or if you're a lover of punk and all its forms. For those in the first group, the film is full of humor but at the expense of the sympathetic but questionable characters. It makes you feel for even those who most would classify as not deserving sympathy, like the hooker who offers Paul a blow job and a tuna sandwich in return for being allowed to sit in his van and keep warm. It ends on such a down note, too.

If you're a huge fan of punk rock, this kind of movie really shows the commercialization of it at the end of the 70s and the early 80s and the fact that it was all just a big messed up corporation by 1985. Wren sees it as her big break and a way to make loads of money and be famous, and that really misses the point of punk.

Of course, I doubt thats how the film was intended, but who cares, everybody loves self-interpretation. I'd recommend this movie to anyone with about an hour and a half of free time. or something.

An okay Early 80s New York Story

[BenTramerLives78 · 6/10 · 24 October 2020]

The eighties had a decent amount of good films set in New York. There was Times Square (1980) and Desperately Seeking Susan (1985) among many others. Smithereens is the directorial debut of Susan Seidelman, who would go on to direct Desperately Seeking Susan.

Smithereens is the story of a young girl (Susan Berman) who roams the streets and is interested in stardom. She is followed around by a young man (Brad Rijn) who likes her, but she is interested in another (Richard Hell) who she thinks could her help her due to the fact that he was in a band.

This is an okay film. It's not near as good as Times Square or Desperately Seeking Susan, but it's pretty decent for an independent directorial debut. It is cool to see punk icon Richard Hell as the sleazy Eric, a man who uses Berman's Wren to his advantage.

Quirky and raw...but fatally stubborn

[moonspinner55 · 5/10 · 3 April 2011]

Susan Berman plays young woman named Wren who hangs out in New York City's punk underground, but who is unable to translate her interest in the burgeoning music scene into a lucrative form of work. Director Susan Seidelman, who also conceived the original story with co-screenwriter Ron Nyswaner, understands this gritty milieu exceptionally well, and the film's low-end budget works for her scenario. Still, "Smithereens" isn't an edgy film, nor a particularly dangerous one. It gives us a rather inept heroine who's locked in a hopeless situation, with no avenues available for a personal or professional redemption. As a result, the finale represents a dead-end rather than the thoughtful or provoking portrait Seidelman clearly intended this to be. ** from ****

Brilliant

[cherold · 9/10 · 31 December 2003]

Unromantic view of East Village life perfectly captures the people and the place. Depressing and totally convincing. I love the first couple of minutes, which so perfectly and wordless establishes the character of the protagonist and the style of the film. And the score is terrific. Seidlemann's first and best film, an indie sleeper.

I've shown this movie to two girlfriends, neither of whom were as thrilled as I was, so it's possible some of my love for this movie is because I remember that East Village. I didn't hang out with the sort of characters in the movie, but I did see them around the neighborhood and found them intriguing.

I can't believe this sleeper hit and critical darling only has a six on IMDB!

Promising debuts for two Susans

[gridoon2024 · 6/10 · 15 September 2020]

Susan Seidelman, the director, making her feature-length debut, takes us on a casual, authentic-looking (and sounding) tour of the less glamorous side of New York, circa 1982. Susan Berman, the unactressy actress, is a genuine discovery, and her character is a true original; she's never sentimentalized in an attempt to gain audience sympathy. Nevertheless, she's a cool chick and I would love to travel back in time to meet her. Where the film is less strong is in story and structure: there is very little of both. It's mostly just a series of rambling episodes, of the kind usually euphemestically called "a slice of life". But Berman's presence alone is reason enough to see it. **1/2 out of 4.

TVs and Tuna

[JZvezda · 5/10 · 26 July 2003]

Wren is a dirty birdie. A vagrant punkette skumbag who wears a checkered vinyl mini-skirt with blue pantyhose and pink hi-top Converse. Her only possessions are a busted-up portable TV and a trash bag full of really scary dipsy-dumpster punk fashions (think Pat Benatar 1981 or Punky Brewster 1984). She looks stupid, acts stupid, and is stupid. She's my hero.

Wren inadvertently wins the affection of this dorky kid with a big heart, who lives in his van and has really bad hair. This relationship functions because:

A) She's a filthy homeless mess, and he's got a van she can sleep in

B) He's into filthy homeless messes, and he's got a van she can sleep in

The dork doesn't understand why Wren lets him buy her drinks and then leaves the bar with other dorks. He keeps buying the drinks and pouts a lot. What a dork! Wren can't be bothered with the dork's unwanted advances and so she goes about stalking this skuzzy douche-bag who has a punk-band. And really bad hair.

All kidding aside, there are some touching moments in this film that kind of reach inside of you and warm your heart. Like when the dork lets the cracked-out hooker sit in his van because it's chilly outside, and in return she offers him a bee-jay and the tuna-sandwich her mom packed as a between-trick snack. That scene almost made me cry.

I love this movie so much that I had to go out and buy it. And I'm glad I did because now my sofa doesn't tip forward on that one side.

Intriguing at an early hour.

[machinabullet · 9/10 · 28 August 2002]

I watched this film probably about 2 years ago at some very early hour of the morning. The Smithereens was one of those films which was strangely compelling in an empty sort of way, there is this incredibly overpowering early 80's economically, socially and artistically bleak skew on everything. This feeling alone makes the film worth watching, and the completely disconnected and irrelevant life of the main character evokes strange emotions of sympathy and intense loneliness. I can't tell you much about the story-line other than it is following the life of a young woman who is a bit of a miscreant and is getting nowhere incredibly fast. Desolation, vacuity and depression at its best!

An authentically gritty & vivid time capsule of the early 80's East Village scene

[Woodyanders · 9/10 · 27 June 2006]

Ambitious, but aimless, amoral, abrasive and opportunistic Jersey girl hustler Wren (winningly played with considerable spunky panache by Susan Berman) tries desperately to break into the lower Manhattan music scene as a punk rock band manager, but since she has neither talent nor connections this proves to be a most difficult task to accomplish. While crashing around the city Wren makes the acquaintance of both Paul (a likable turn by Brad Rinn, who later starred in "Perfect Strangers" and "Special Effects" for Larry Cohen), a nice guy struggling artist who lives in his rundown jalopy of a van and Eric (a commendably fearless performance by punk icon Richard Hell of the Voidoids), a cocky, stuck-up narcissistic leech of a musician who ruthlessly uses other people to keep himself afloat.

Directed with tremendously exciting style, verve and assurance by Susan Seidelman (who went on to helm "Desperately Seeking Susan" and several episodes of "Sex and the City"), this compellingly raw, gritty and funky little indie drama gem offers a very harsh, nightmarish and unflattering depiction of the East Village, pungently capturing the tart'n'tangy stench of urban squalor and despair in an unflinchingly stark and unsentimental manner (Seidelman's admirably obdurate refusal to either whitewash or romanticize the nastier aspects of the East Village punk culture is one of the movie's most substantial assets). The barbed, incisive script by Ron Nyswaner and Peter Askin relates the grim story in an engrossingly sharp, direct and brutally honest way, pulling no punches throughout and concluding things on a hauntingly downbeat note. Chirine El Khadem's rough, grainy, but dynamic and evocative cinematography, a first-rate thrashy'n'throbbing rock score by the Feelies, the often witty dialogue (favorite line: "Everyone's a little weird these days -- it's normal"), and the snappy editing further galvanize this thrillingly energetic film. An authentically scrappy and vibrant time capsule of the early 80's East Village bohemian punk alternative artistic fringe, "Smithereens" gets my highest possible recommendation.

Where's the Story?

[iftba · 14 November 2003]

So many indie films want you to believe New York is this bleak, dirty place where everyone lives on the street. In reality, there must be dozens of film crews running into each other in any given vacant lot trying to hide the fact that it's the center of a bustling film culture. If there were so many kids offering shell games, they wouldn't have to hire actors to play them.

This particular street life saga shows nothing new, and remarkably nothing punk. Nothing happens for 90 minutes. The main character is the same at the end as in the beginning. Why does she put up flyers of herself if she's not in a band? Why do hookers and street vendors proposition a guy who couldn't be more clearly broke if he was naked? As 'likeable' as Wren is, and as much as you want to see her do something with her life, or heck, even become a stripper, this movie just doesn't pay off. Watching this is like playing a slow pinball game with no noise. Why would you?

Incoherent drivel

[=G= · 2/10 · 1 February 2003]

"Smithereens" is the kind of worthless flick which just hangs out among the cable channels taking up space like a cheesy dime novel in the public library. A worthless bit of tripe and first effort for mediocre director Seidelman, the film is fraught with bad acting, bad sound, bad camera work, and poor quality in all aspects of the film. Many better films never make it to market and why junk flicks like this one do and never seem to go away is one of life's great mysteries. (D-)

Feeling Moody___Very Moody...Like This

[moderniste · 10/10 · 29 April 2012]

I love love love this film. Susan Seidelman showing massive potential. Perhaps because this was her first film, we get to meditate within the extremely stark minimalism that so completely captures The Scene. Lots of reviewers have incorrectly alluded to the "punk rock" scene--this is NYC well past the heyday of '77. This is not the noisy brash Ramones-fueled mania of NYC punk rock; rather this is the entirely anodyne No Wave scene. And anodyne is what we get in Wren, the well-cast heroine.

Rather than dwell on the plot/theme, I find myself picking apart the amazing costume, set dressing, locations and music/score because Seidelman absolutely gets it right. And getting something as preciously cool as an underground fashion/art/music scene right is really difficult, yet Seidelman, with refreshing restraint, really lives within this world.

Wren's whole look is so spot on--her skinnyness, choppy red hair, statement shades and those clothes...that iconic first look with the vinyl herringbone mini with colorblocked shell and belt, ripped fishnets and Capezio "character" dance shoes is exactly what a downtown army of cool chicks was wearing back then. Her other outfits let you know how important style is to the superficial Wren, and to that whole world of No Wave hipsters who haunt the Peppermint Lounge.

Lee Quinones is credited with graffiti, and the van as well as the wall behind it serve as super minimal set dressing that perfectly ties in with the mood. I also love it when Wren does her own graffiti, spraypainting her name with a long tail leading to a paint-circled flyer with her image--very cool.

The music is memorable as well--I'd love to get my hands on a soundtrack. Besides the Feelies' score, there are so many great tracks, especially the Richard Hell/Voidoids track, and one of my all-time favorite NYC No Wave bands, ESG with "Moody". That hypnotic song practically defines that era.

Reading the credits is great fun, as Seidelman gathered a cast of thousands of downtown/Village denizens for both acting and production roles. It is this skill for gathering together this kind of hard-to-find talent from outside the film industry to create something 100% authentic that makes Seidelman such a good director; her instincts in this first outing are solid.

The dream

[mdinaz-80608 · 8/10 · 27 April 2020]

A lot of the reviewers focus on the waning punk scene of the Village in the early 80s, but this is really irrelevant to the movie. Wren, our heroine, is just one of thousands since the 1920s looking for "the dream" of success while living in a trash can or other men's pants. Susan Seidelman did an outstanding job of capturing the desperation, the hopelessness, the lies, the dirt, and the total narcissism required of pursuing "the dream". Aptly, in one scene we see anti-hero Eric's room mate reading a comic called "Despair". While I myself was once a musician in NY (but an hour north of the city), being awake for days going from work to practice to gigs and back to work again, I had long ago disabused myself the idea of "the dream" - I had decided I enjoyed eating and sleeping in my own home more important. Playing music was for fun. But I played with people exactly like this, including a female lead singer who had once led exactly a Wren-ful life of sleeping in the street or some guy's van just to survive. I even had my own situation as a skull full of mush where I found myself dragging a suitcase and a portable TV down a street 1500 miles from home with exactly enough money for a ticket back - leaving me with a dollar to last me three days, with which is more than Wren ended up. That final shot encapsulates the nightmare masquerading as a dream perfectly. "Smithereens" is nothing new - there are scores of movies since the silent era-days exactly like this. But capturing that mood so perfectly is pure art. BTW - did anyone catch Chris Noth (of "Law and Order" fame) in the van?

Realistic, absorbing.

[ltryforo · 8/10 · 5 July 2000]

We know people like this: rootless, aimless, self-absorbed, and using. This is a realistic portrait of such a young woman who, when everything smashes to "smithereens," may or may not have an epiphany, in an ending reminiscent of the last frame in 400 Blows. Great directorial debut.

Starts out good, but goes to boredom

[Blondie_ · 22 March 2002]

Considering the extremely low budget, this film is pretty impressive. It starts out entertaining and absorbing as we get to know the main character and all the travels and travails she encounters on her quest for fame. However, the story doesn't develop much after that and pretty much goes nowhere, leaving the view bored and waiting for something to materialize.

Doesn't Make It In New York Or Anywhere

[bkoganbing · 2/10 · 1 November 2008]

Susan Seidelman seems to have had a decent career with a few top notch credits under her belt. I'm certainly glad she bounced back from this film which seems to have its admirers. I'm not one of them.

I've seen better acting in high school plays than I did in Smithereens. The plot such as it is involved young Susan Berman who is ambitious to make it in the world of music and is willing to do just about anything to get there. She even rejects the sincere advances of a young artist who is living out of his van off the East River played by Brad Rijn.

Young Mr. Rijn contributes the worst performance in the film, in fact one of the worst acting jobs I've seen in a long time. No wonder he's not gone anywhere.

I will say that Seidelman's eye for the camera is a good one in capturing the familiar East Village locations where the film was mostly shot. But her work with her live performers didn't measure up. I'm not sure she had that much raw material to work with.

Look fast and you'll see a very young Christopher Noth before Law and Order and Sex in the City as a street hustler.

If you like punk rock, you might sit through this for the soundtrack. I'll stick to Bing Crosby.

No Wave New York

[wxpierce · 8/10 · 10 July 2021]

This is a cult classic no wave New York slice of life kinda film. If you like early Jarmusch you'll did this. Siedleman directs this no-budget flick between the excellent Decline of Western Civilization punk documentary and just before the mainstream Desperately Seeking Susan. Wren is proto-"Susan", if you want a glimpse of the world the Madonna character came from you'll get a good idea here. If you want a look at the run down abandoned New York City of the early 80's you'll get a good idea here.