Smithereens (1982) poster
1982 · punk · independent · no-wave · drama

Smithereens

Directed by Susan Seidelman1h 34m1982
ElsewhereIMDb6.73kRT100%Metacritic72TMDB6.547
  • sombre
  • brisk
  • bleak
  • intimate
Movie DNA

Sombre, kinetic, measured punk / independent, grounded in texture. Nihilistic, intimate, cold, hand-scored across twelve axes of taste.

How every film is hand-scored →

A narcissistic runaway engages in a number of parasitic relationships amongst members of New York's waning punk scene.

Our read · Smithereens (1982) reads as a sombre, kinetic, grounded punk · independent · no-wave entry — measured in intensity, intimate in scope, cold in temperature, nihilistic in outlook. Hand-scored on twelve axes of taste — mood, pacing, weirdness, hope, stakes, humour, reality, density, warmth, auteur, intensity, and era — with a derived palette drawn from its dominant cinematography.

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The shape of Smithereens

Tonight, this looks like

What watching it is actually like.

You want a raw, unsentimental slice of fading early-80s NYC punk ambition.

ends ambiguousit stays with yousteady all the waygrips by minute 12attention 3/5earns its length
Date nightWith friendsSoloWith parentsKids around
Heads-updrug use

Skip it tonightYou want polished characters or stories that reward rooting for the protagonist.

If Smithereens is your film
Desperately Seeking Susan (1985)
80s NYC misfits, music scene and mistaken identity energy
(more mainstream, lighter and star-driven)
Liquid Sky (1982)
alienated downtown hedonism and punk/New Wave scene
(far more surreal and sci-fi)
The Blank Generation (1980)
documentary-style portrait of the same NYC punk world
(you strictly want scripted narrative)
DNA · twelve axes

The reading.

Each axis is hand-scored — not derived from votes or genre averages. The marker shows where this film sits; the gradient fill uses the film's own cinematography palette.

Mood · HeavyCosy
Pacing · Slow-burnKinetic
Intensity · GentleExtreme
Weirdness · ConventionalSurreal
Hope · NihilisticRedemptive
Stakes · IntimateEpic
Humour · NoneBroad
Reality · GroundedFantastical
Density · SparseTwisty
Warmth · ColdTender
Auteur · TransparentSignature
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