A talent-challenged girl tries to promote herself to stardom in New York's waning punk music world.
A restless and abrasive young woman eschews the affections of a sensitive young portrait artist, preferring to chase punk singers in a misguided desire for fame and fortune in New York's Greenwich Village.—Rick Ferncase <[email protected]>
Originally from New Jersey, a place she vows never to return, Wren is a 19-year-old wannabe punk musician living in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York City. In reality, she wants to be famous, but does not really want to do anything to achieve that fame. She is a hanger-on, a parasite... latching herself to anyone she thinks can help her. Her sole modus operandi is self-promotion, as opposed to doing anything even remotely related to music in her own right. The person who she tries to latch herself onto the most is Eric, a musician who has some renown from playing in the local nightclubs. On the most part, Eric gets out of Wren what he wants, which has nothing to do with her music, and throws her away after he's done. In her self-promotion, she squanders away what little money she makes at her part-time photocopy shop job, and the result is her being behind four months in rent and threatened with eviction from her shabby apartment. She catches the eye of Paul, a young man recently arrived from Montana, who lives out of his broken-down painted Econoline van parked down by the highway where the local hookers hang out. As such, he is mobile in that he sees New York only as a temporary stop from where he can drive away. After spending some time with Wren, Paul can see she is only using him, only being with him when she has no where else to go, but he can't help but always take her back, when she does come back, which is all the time. She treats him much as Eric treats her, something she chooses not to see. Wren's actions are ratcheted up a notch when she decides her fortunes lie in Los Angeles, if only she had a way to get there..—Huggo
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 Rijn), 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.
In New York City, a 19-year-old runaway named Wren (Susan Berman), who fancies herself to be an up-and-coming rock 'n' roll star, steals sunglasses from a female pedestrian at a subway station and pastes photographs of herself inside a subway train. There, Paul (Brad Rinn), a plainly-dressed newcomer to the city from Montana, is smitten by the teen girl. When Wren gives him one of her handbills, he follows her around town, observing her going to her job at a local photocopy shop. When her shift ends and the shop closes for the evening, Paul continues to follow Wren and he eventually approaches her that night in front of the Peppermint Lounge, a nightclub for New Wave rockers. When Wren is ignored by the showcased musicians, she allows Paul to walk her home, but rejects his request for a date.
The next morning, Paul awakens in his makeshift home, a spray-painted van, and admires Wren's flyer which features the text, "Who is this?" On Friday night, Paul waits outside Wren's door to her apartment building and she reluctantly agrees to join him for a movie. Although Paul tries to coax her back to his van, his seduction is interrupted by a bygone rock star named Eric (Richard Hell), who jumps out of a taxicab to get away from his blonde date. Besotted by Eric, the former front man of the band "Smithereens," Wren chases him to a bar and vies for his attention while Paul grudgingly plays video games. Paul begs her to leave, but she insists Eric can bolster her career. As Wren and Eric dance, Paul leaves in anger.
Later that same night, Eric carries the intoxicated Wren back to his basement apartment dwelling and speaks of his plans to move to Los Angeles, California, where he will revitalize his rock and roll career. In the bathroom, Wren discovers Eric's disheveled and injured roommate, Billy (Roger Jett). Although she rejects his advances, she awakens the next morning to find herself lying between the two men, completely clothed, as Eric's sultry, blonde taxicab companion watches from across the room. Eric kisses Wren goodbye and she returns to her shared apartment to find a padlock on the door. The landlady throws her clothes out the window and pours water on her head for failure to pay the overdue rent.
Now homeless, Wren travels to the suburbs of New York on Long Island and seeks a loan from her older sister, Terry (Pamela Speed), who suggests the girl return to their family home in New Jersey. Terry's boorish husband, Mike (Tom Cherwin), also refuses Wren's request. Wren refuses to go home to her parents and leaves.
Back in Manhattan, Wren finds Paul's van in a vacant lot and begs for help. Although he tries to drive away without her, his vehicle breaks down, and she convinces him to burglarize her apartment to retrieve her remaining belongings. Back in the van, Wren finds Paul's handgun and moves into his shabby abode. However, she remains infatuated with Eric.
Sometime later, Wren tries to take up residence with her copy shop co-worker, Cecile, but the girl insists her roommates despise Wren. When Cecile pleads for an introduction to the infamous Eric, the girls head to his apartment for a date, but he fails to show. Dejected, Wren returns to Paul's van and rests next to him. Paul awakens in anger and accuses Wren of being an opportunist.
The following day, Wren finds Eric at a cafe, beguiling another lovesick devotee into financing his Los Angeles pilgrimage. Wren insults the woman and a fight ensues.
That evening, Paul finds Wren in his van with a bloodied face. She tells him about a dream in which the world is blown to "smithereens," but the deluded survivors still go about their lives in ignorance, floating on remaining shards of earth. Wren admits she is from New Jersey, where she is universally despised, and asks Paul to shoot her, but the two make love instead. Afterward, Paul announces his plan to leave for New Hampshire and invites her along.
When Paul is away the following day, Wren is surprised to find Eric in the van. He claims to be out of money, with no ride to Los Angeles. Although Wren is considering the move to New Hampshire, Eric tempts her with a kiss and shares a "dangerous" idea.
Sometime later at a nightclub, Wren propositions a married businessman named Ed who is in New York City for a convention. As they leave for his hotel in a taxicab, Eric joins them and holds the man at gunpoint, demanding money, jewelry, and his pants. At Eric's den, he counts their booty of $176 and permits Wren to keep Ed's wristwatch and half the cash. She returns to Paul's van the next morning to collect her two shopping bags of belongings. Leaving behind her broken television, she announces her departure for Los Angeles, but Paul warns Wren that she cannot keep exploiting her allies.
Wren arrives at Eric's apartment to find him gone. In the foyer, Eric's glum, blonde companion shocks Wren with the news that she is Eric's wife, and offers Wren a cigarette in commiseration. Wren heads to co-worker Cecile's apartment and unsuccessfully begs for a place to stay. Homeless yet again, Wren pushes her way into the Peppermint Lounge to proposition a musician, but she is thrown out of the club by a security guard. As a last hope, she telephones her sister Terry, but the woman's callous husband answers and Wren hangs up.
After spending the night on the subway with fellow homeless derelicts, Wren returns to Paul's van, sees a man working underneath the vehicle, and presumes him to be her former lover. However, a stranger slides into view and reveals that Paul sold the inoperable van for $700. Inside, Wren finds the new owner's small harem of prostitutes, sitting beneath Paul's portrait of her. Grabbing her broken television, Wren walks away in defiance. Along the road, she is mistaken for a prostitute, and initially ignores the man's solicitation. However, Wren reconsiders when he asks if she has anywhere else to go.
