In celebration of Nitehawk’s 5th anniversary, The Deuce Jockey’s leave Time Square to stump stagger around the streets of old Williamsburg with STREET TRASH. Presented in 35mm and will have writer/producer ROY FRUMKES in person!
Anniversary Note: Nitehawk first screened Street Trash in April 2012. THE DEUCE debuted at Nitehawk in September 2013 with a screening of Vice Squad.
Get off the Glittering Gulch and head east for a walkabout of ol’ WillyB…
When the owner of a liquor store starts selling 60 year old bad/cheap wine to the local hobos, they literally start melting to death. An overzealous cop tries to get to the bottom of all these strange deaths while also dealing with a deranged Vietnam vet. Street Trash is the kind of ridiculous, gross-out midnight fair you can enjoy regardless of where you live, but the film holds a special place in our hearts here at Nitehawk because much of it was filmed right up the road in Greenpoint in mid-1980’s, capturing the neighborhood before the wave of cultural and economic changes swept through the neighborhood, taking much of Street Trash’s trash with it.
Nitehawk’s blog traces Street Trash’s filming locations through Greenpoint with this handy map!
The ugly side of legal and illegal drug addiction painfully unfolds in this beautiful and very dark drama.
Darren Aronofsky will certainly break your heart with his second feature, Requiem for a Dream. Yes, it’s depressing but the film is also an exquisite piece of art that chronicles the desperation and sadness that surrounds drug addiction. On the one hand there is the young and beautiful couple who, with their friends, tumble down the dark road of hard drugs. On the other hand there’s the lonely mother whose delusional solitude leads to a dependency on diet pills/uppers. Somewhere in the middle is either the escape or the end.
Brooklyn Based: The mother’s apartment is located in Brighton Beach while many scenes are shot in neighboring Coney Island. Director Darren Aronofsky was born and lives in Brooklyn.
Part of Nitehawk’s THX BKLYN November series.
An honest cop blows the whistle on police corruption and faces a serious backlash from his fellow officers.
Based on a true story, Sidney Lumet’s Serpico centers around a cop (played by the powerhouse Al Pacino) who refuses to take any of the money his fellow cops extort from local criminals. Because of this, people of the force turn against him, putting him in dangerous situations and, basically, making his life completely miserable. For twelve years (from 1960 – 1972) Serpico remains true to his convictions, soldiering on knowing that one day the truth will be known…and it does eventually break wide open.
Brooklyn Based: Though filmed a lot in Manhattan, Serpico locations included the Williamsburg Bridge and a very near spot of South 8th Street (between Driggs and Bedford).
Part of Nitehawk’s THX BKLYN November series.
Starring: Harvey Keitel, William Hurt, Harold Perrineau, Forest Whitaker, Stockard Channing, Ashley Judd
Two days, one summer, eighteen years. A Brooklyn smoke shop is the epicenter of the neighborhood and a haven to its inhabitants with problematic lives. Wayne Wang’s Smoke (written by Brooklynite Paul Auster and based off a 1990 short story he wrote for the New York Times) provides beautiful and touching glimpses into the fractured lives of the neighborhood folk who patron it. From a disheartened writer to a son in search of his father, the trials of troubled familial life unfold before the eyes of the Brooklyn Cigar Co. owner Auggie, including his own.
The Brooklyn Cigar Co. was located on the corner of 16th Street and Prospect Park West, right across Bartel-Pritchard Square from Nitehawk Prospect Park.
Rich and approaching thirty, Elgar Enders escapes wealthy apathy by purchasing a building in a black ghetto to become The Landlord.
Hal Ashby’s uniquely hilarious film, The Landlord, shows just how much Brooklyn has changed in the past forty-something years. When Elgar Enders (Beau Bridges) seeks independence from his wealthy (and truly strange) family, he learns that the world is more complex, painful, and colorful than he’d ever imagined. Rarely are race and class relations treated humorously and with such regard for the cultural complexity that they imbue as The Landlord and this film does it with true style and wit.
Brooklyn Based: the building Elgar Enders purchases is located in Park Slope.
Part of Nitehawk’s THX BKLYN November series.
Starring: Jeff Daniels, Laura Linney, Jesse Eisenberg, Owen Kline, Anna Paquin, William Baldwin
Based on the real life experiences of Noah Baumbach and his brother after the separation of their parents in the 1980s, The Squid and The Whale is a piercingly honest portrayal of a family dealing with divorce. Produced by Wes Anderson (no surprise given the deadpan delivery and sensational vocabulary), the film touchingly deals with love, mistakes, family and failure with a sincere sense of humor. Interestingly, the movie is named after the giant squid and sperm whale diorama housed at the American Museum of Natural History.
Director Noah Baumbach was born in Brooklyn and the film was shot nearby in Park Slope.
Forty-two children are forced into a televised battle where only one can survive. Battle Royale is a Live Sound Cinema event featuring a live original score by GUIZOT.
We all know that before The Hunger Games there was a shockingly original Japanese film called Battle Royale that showed us a not-too-distant future when young children had to battle to the death for public entertainment. A terrifying concept because it seems entirely within the realm of possibility, Battle Royale makes the claim that innocence is fleeting, loyalty is easily compromised, and the war for survival runs brutally deep.
Battle Royale is second-to-none and its sheer intensity will be heightened even more when you experience it with a live score by GUIZOT.
OPENING ON FRIDAY, MARCH 14! Cheryl Dunn’s documentary on New York street photography, Everybody Street, is back at Nitehawk by popular demand!
Everybody Street illuminates the lives and work of New York’s iconic street photographers and the incomparable city that has inspired them for decades. The documentary pays tribute to the spirit of street photography through a cinematic exploration of New York City, and captures the visceral rush, singular perseverance and at times immediate danger customary to these artists.
Produced and distributed by Alldayeveryday. Visit the main site for EVERYBODY STREET here.
For October’s MUSIC DRIVEN Nitehawk and Noisey present The Devil and Daniel Johnston, the 2005 documentary on manic-depressive genius singer/songwriter/artist Daniel Johnston.
The Devil and Daniel Johnston chronicles the life of American artist Daniel Johnston from his childhood up until the present, with an emphasis on his experiences with bipolar disorder, and how it manifested itself in demonic self-obsession. Jeff Feurzeig exquisitely depicts a perfect example of brilliance and madness going hand in hand with subject Daniel Johnston. As an artist suffering from manic depression with delusions of grandeur, Daniel Johnston’s wild fluctuations, numerous downward spirals, and periodic respites are exposed in this deeply moving documentary.
A New Jersey guy dedicated to his family, friends, and church, develops unrealistic expectations from watching porn and works to find happiness and intimacy with his potential true love.
Jon Martello (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a strong, handsome, good old fashioned guy. His buddies call him Don Jon due to his ability to “pull” a different woman every weekend, but even the finest fling doesn’t compare to the bliss he finds alone in front of the computer watching pornography. Barbara Sugarman (Scarlett Johansson) is a bright, beautiful, good old fashioned girl. Raised on romantic Hollywood movies, she’s determined to find her Prince Charming and ride off into the sunset. Wrestling with good old fashioned expectations of the opposite sex, Jon and Barbara struggle against a media culture full of false fantasies to try and find true intimacy in this unexpected comedy written and directed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
