Downtown 81 (2001)
Downtown 81 Photos
Movie Info
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Cast
as Himself
as Herself
as Beatrice
as Conversationalist at Mudd Club
as Graffiti Artist
as The Felons Band Member
as Graffiti Artist
as The Landlord
as The Thief
as Danny
as The Chauffeur
as Mrs. Cavalcanti
as The Maid
as The Drunk
as Second Go-Go Dancer
as Go-Go Bar Habitue
as Go-Go Bar Habitue
as Go-Go Bar Habitue
as Go-Go Bar Habitue
as Michael
as Mudd Club Conversationalist
as Mudd Club Conversationalist
as Mudd Club Conversationalist
as Mudd Club Conversationalist
as Mudd Club Fist-Fighter
as Studio Manager
as Record Mogul
Critic Reviews for Downtown 81
All Critics (22) | Top Critics (8) | Fresh (16) | Rotten (6) | DVD (1)
A fascinating if fragmented, dreamlike look at the downtown art-music-fashion scene of a yeasty, creative era.
A crudely poetic inventory of the people and places about to rock pop culture.
Performances by DNA and the Plastics alone are worth the price of admission.
Gives us a glimpse of the city as it was, suggesting that there was something revolutionary, even inspiring, about those days of not-so yore.
It captures the youthful excitement of a burgeoning creative movement.
It's as a documentary that Downtown 81 is most successful.
Audience Reviews for Downtown 81
"Downtown 81" wants to be transcendent and wants to the cognoscenti on art and culture. I'm not sure if it achieves just that (it probably doesn't,) but it does manage to capture the small pockets of culture in Manhattan that revolves around music, visual arts, fashion, etc. If anything the film is a fascinating time capsule that looks like a documentary and has the ultra-left ideas and attitudes of the people in the place imbedded in the screenplay. As the film progresses it gets more and more avant-garde, and like the hip drugged youth in the film whose ambitions only go as far as their ecstacy/ketamine/THC-suppressed drive for change, the film also feels as if it nearly loses sight of its original ambition and scope, especially in the 2nd and 3rd act. The film embraces its disjointedness and converts itself into, what might as well be, a compilation of electrifying, kinetic music videos, as inane and aimless they may be. But, at the same time it is an impeccable showcase of the area's culture and the people whom it belongs to. Other than the premise, which is still somewhat interesting, most notably with the charming ending, some choices in editing and camera angles are questionable. At best the film, which is really just an embodiment of one idea after the other, is moderately interesting. Perhaps amusing or a pleasant distraction. Just don't expect it to be nearly as enriching as it pretends to be.
Super Reviewer
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