Downtown 81
dir. Edo Bertoglio
Opens Fri Sept 21
Clinton Street Theater

"Hey, Jean Michel, how 'bout we make a movie? You'll star in it and all you have to do is walk around New York, becoming one with the streets, shelling out beat poetry, and philosophizing on urban existence. And all of your friends can be in it. It'll be Music. It'll be Art. It'll be the Revolution, and fuck if it won't be televised. Need some more coke?" Perhaps that's what Glenn O'Brien pitched to Jean Michel Basquiat when he conceived of Downtown 81. Directed by Edo Bertoglio from a script written by O'Brien, the movie was filmed in 1980-81 under the title New York Beat Movie and ground to a halt during post-production due to financial problems. Parts of the film were then lost somewhere in Europe, re-located a few years ago, and post-production continued, with a large portion of the dialogue being very noticeably re-dubbed. The film is finally being released this year, after a 20-year-hiatus, as Downtown 81.

Here's the (lack of) plot: Jean Michel (as himself) wakes up in the hospital, doesn't remember shit about how he got there, checks out and goes back to his apartment, where he finds himself locked out because he owes back rent. He grabs a painting and sets off to sell it for the rent money, while wandering the streets doodling on walls and in books and running into lots of incoherent bizarre people--including a back-alley meeting with Debbie Harry as a bag lady who turns into a fairy princess and grants our hero his every wish (read: shitloads of money) in exchange for a kiss. This incoherent mess is connected throughout with narration à la Basquiat, in the form of subconscious, free-flowing, gutter 'poetry' and other street-inspired gems on the subbacultcha of New York.

Okay, so let's forget the story. This movie is best viewed as a surreal documentary on the downtown hipster scene of New York, 1981. Viewed as such, the film actually becomes interesting. Basquiat was relatively unknown at the time--his moment of stardom occurred later that year with his first major show, the New York New Wave Show at P.S. 1. No Wave-era New York is laid out bare as he wanders around, hooking up with scenester friends throughout the city. He passes John Lurie on the street, chills with future "Yo! MTV Raps!" host Fab 5 Freddy and graffiti artist Lee at a hiphop club, and watches DNA with freak-o Arto Lindsay recording "Blonde Redhead" (yes, indie geeks, that band got their name from this song). There's vintage footage galore of Tuxedomoon, Japanese New Wave band The Plastics, ex-lead Contortion James Chance with his No Wave/funk alter ego James White and the Blacks, and Kid Creole and the Coconuts at the Mudd Club. The incidental music is great as well, with tracks by John Lurie, Vincent Gallo, Lydia Lunch, Melle Mel, Basquiat's own band, Gray, and my favorite, Rammelzee versus K-Rob performing "Beat Bop," which was the only record released on Basquiat's Tartown record label and is considered one of the rarest hiphop records ever.

Downtown 81 is akin to Zeppelin's The Song Remains the Same, or Robert Frank's infamous Rolling Stones tour-pic Cocksucker Blues--you don't watch them because they're good, you watch them because they give you a glimpse at the real deal, with little distortion. If you can concentrate hard enough and ignore the horrible plot, you get a real peek at the underground New York scene at the beginning of the '80s.