Susan Seidelman

Smithereens

Smithereens

Susan Seidelman established her distinctive vision of New York City with this debut feature, the lo-fi original for her vibrant portraits of women reinventing themselves. After escaping New Jersey, the quintessentially punk Wren (Susan Berman)—a spark plug in fishnets—moves to the city with the mission of becoming famous. When not pasting up self-promotional flyers or hanging at the Peppermint Lounge, she’s getting involved with Paul (Brad Rinn), the nicest guy to ever live in a van next to the highway, and Eric (Richard Hell), an aloof rocker. Shot on 16 mm film that captures the grit and glam of downtown in the 1980s, with an alternately moody and frenetic soundtrack by the Feelies and others, Smithereens—the first American independent film to compete for the Palme d’Or—is an unfaded snapshot of a bygone era.

Film Info

  • United States
  • 1982
  • 93 minutes
  • Color
  • 1.66:1
  • English
  • Spine #941

Director-Approved Special Edition Features

  • New 2K digital restoration, approved by director Susan Seidelman
  • Audio commentary from 2004 featuring Seidelman
  • New interviews with Seidelman and actor Susan Berman
  • And You Act Like One Too (1976) and Yours Truly, Andrea G. Stern (1979), two early shorts by Seidelman, with new introductions by the director
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by critic Rebecca Bengal

New cover by Jay Shaw

Purchase Options

Director-Approved Special Edition Features

  • New 2K digital restoration, approved by director Susan Seidelman
  • Audio commentary from 2004 featuring Seidelman
  • New interviews with Seidelman and actor Susan Berman
  • And You Act Like One Too (1976) and Yours Truly, Andrea G. Stern (1979), two early shorts by Seidelman, with new introductions by the director
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by critic Rebecca Bengal

New cover by Jay Shaw

Smithereens
Cast
Susan Berman
Wren
Brad Rinn
Paul
Richard Hell
Eric
Nada Despotovich
Cecile
Roger Jett
Billy (Eric’s roommate)
Kitty Summerall
Eric’s wife
Robynne White
Landlady
Ed
Katherine Riley
First hooker
Amos Poe
Hustler in bar
Cookie Mueller
Horror-movie sequence
French
Horror-movie sequence
Credits
Director
Susan Seidelman
Producer
Susan Seidelman
Associate producer
Joanne Gross
Director of photography
Khadem
Production design
Franz Harland
Music composed and performed by
Glenn Mercer
Music composed and performed by
Bill Million
Screenplay
Ron Nyswaner
Screenplay
Peter Askin
Story
Susan Seidelman
Story
Ron Nyswaner

Current

A Time Capsule of a Gritty, Long-Gone New York
A Time Capsule of a Gritty, Long-Gone New York

The director and the star of Smithereens reminisce about how their landmark film immortalized the mean streets and crumbling buildings of 1980s downtown New York.

Smithereens: Breakfast at the Peppermint Lounge
Smithereens: Breakfast at the Peppermint Lounge

A haven for punks and drifters, 1980s downtown New York is captured in all its grit and romance in Susan Seidelman’s Palme d’Or–nominated debut feature.

By Rebecca Bengal

Into the Groove: A Conversation with Susan Seidelman
Into the Groove: A Conversation with Susan Seidelman

Beloved for her stylistic range and her vibrant portraits of New York City, the director discusses the feminist spirit that runs throughout her work and the collaborations that bring her films to life.

By Hillary Weston

Lost in the City with the Feelies

Songbook

Lost in the City with the Feelies

In Susan Seidelman’s Smithereens, the odyssey of a New Jersey transplant trying to survive in Manhattan is accompanied by the music of one of the Garden State’s most iconic punk bands.

By Vikram Murthi

Brian Raftery’s Top 10
Brian Raftery’s Top 10

The year 1999 may be this culture critic’s favorite in Hollywood history (he just wrote a book on the subject!), but the Criterion films he holds most dear span a number of different eras.

Beak>’s Top 10
Beak>’s Top 10

The acclaimed band’s three members each choose a selection of favorites, with an emphasis on movies that have haunted them since childhood.

​Jon Dieringer’s Top 10
​Jon Dieringer’s Top 10

The founder of the website Screen Slate picks a selection of favorites, including an ’80s indie gem, shockers ranging from Eraserhead to Canoa, and two films that capture the “twilit feeling of childhood.”