Jim Jarmusch wanders through a sun-drenched Brooklyn where nothing happens and everything matters.
In this ostensible murder mystery, the genre elements are merely a pretext for the series of haunting (if inconclusive and only mildly erotic) homo-social encounters he stages. Starting with the familiar premise of the absent woman, so popular with Downtown filmmakers, Vogl drains his storytelling of any hints of noir stylization. Instead of nighttime scenes, slick streets, and dark alleys, he shoots documentary-style on the nondescript, sunlit streets of Brooklyn, Manhattan, and City Island in a manner that casually references the art-film angst of Michelangelo Antonioni.
Direction
Vogl weaponizes boring locations into existential dread.
Cinematography
Glaring noon sun where noir demands shadows.
Director
Harald Vogl
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Part of the No Wave cinema movement where NYC punks made films because guitars were too expensive. Vogl was a musician first—explains the rhythm.
Patti Astor was the queen of Colab and Fun Gallery; this might be her only on-screen appearance. Diego Cortez founded the Mudd Club. Everyone here was someone else's someone.
US
