My War Gone By, I Miss it So

Brave New York is an hour long free form riff that purports to be filmed from ‘88 to ’03 -- the footage was shot mostly within a few blocks’ radius of St. Marks. There is filler and some scenes fall flat, but there are also powerful images that embody the changing nabe from ’96-‘03.

The experience of watching the film parallels that of living in the East Village at the time; even though one knows what is going to happen (the hood is going to flip), the seeming constancy of familiar surroundings lulls you into complacency. In both cases, suddenly, the burden of specific images hips you to the fact that things have changed irrevocably. In the film it is watching a dimly lit exterior of an upscale modern restaurant and a pretty yuppie with high sandals walking down Avenue A. What should have been obvious becomes clear -- NY has passed you by. You better change or become an anachronism.

Street people have a high profile in the film and to the average contemporary Manhattan viewer the filmmaker’s sensibility is an outsider’s one. Glamour and glitz are only glanced at fleetingly with disdain and that’s probably the most nostalgic thing about the documentary.