"...jam-packed
with riveting perfs by some of the hottest underground Gotham bands
of the early '80s...an extraordinary real-life snapshot of hip.
arty, clubland Manhattan in the post-punk era...brings viewers right
inside the pulsating heart of latenight Lower East Side New York..."
Brendan
Kelly, VARIETY |
"...definitely
of interest to those with long memories and vast vinyl collections,
spanning the formative rap of Melle Mel, the ghostly cyber-bily
of electronic pioners Suicide and the No Wave honking of arty jazz
fusion outfit James White and the Blacks..."
Damon Wise, MOVING PICTURES
|
"...feels
like an undiscovered classic...a fascinating portrait of a time
long gone, a Lower East Side New York of underground energy, porn
houses, poetic graffiti and the late night live music as seen through
the travels of legendary artist and musician Jean-Michel Basquiat...Music
on the film is one of its greatest pleasures, with live never-recorded
performances from Kid Creole and the Coconuts, Tuxedo Moon, Japanese
New Wave band The Plastics, and a cool, long forgotten power trio
called DNA..."
Anthony Kaufman, INDIEWIRE (USA) |
"Basquiat
is a joy to watch. He floats through the movie with cool grace
and unflagging energy; he's a natural in front of the lens..."
Mike McGonigal, ARTFORUM
"...every reference is purely magical..."
Maurizio
Porro, CORRIERE DELLA SERA (Italy)
|
"It's not a documentary,
even if everyone plays themselves...in a New York scene of the past, recent yet so far away, composed of experimentation, searching,
curiosity, fluid energy and creative movement in which the graffiti
artist Basquiat is the guide and access key with his vagabonds into
the underground..."
Christina Piccino, IL MANEFESTO (Italy) |
"It's impossible to not dance in one's
seat while watching DOWNTOWN 81, or to not scream with joy; something
like this was filmed one day and saved until now! ...The energy
is there, to the maximum of its intensity. The words are cold, the
relationships relatively simplified, but the music heats up the
asphalt..."
Philippe Azoury, LES INROCKUPTIBLES (France) |
"We
rub our eyes to see such a moment of extraordinary epiphany, in
which cinema is usually absent:the birth of a galaxy and a star...shot
with restrained manners in order to be overwhelmed by a brutal as
well as funny energy, this film is contageous, from the beginning
to end it is inhabited by the only conviction that is worthwhile:
the elegance of the people surrounding you...The anonymous spontaneity
of the young Basquiat provides the film with a dose of sincerity
which enables the film not to be pretentious... He (Basquiat) crosses
it (Downtown 81) with a bomb in his hands, like in an afterpunk
fairy tale where Blondie is the princess and he is the dancer. Everything
here moves forward on the knife's edge."
Phillippe Azoury,
LIBERATION (France) |
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