Smithereens (film)
Smithereens is a 1982 film directed by Susan Seidelman and starring Susan Berman, Brad Rinn, and punk rock icon Richard Hell. The film follows a narcissistic young woman from New Jersey who comes to New York City to join the punk subculture, only to find that its gravitated towards Los Angeles in order to pay her way across country, she engages in a number of parasitic relationships, shifting her allegiances to new friends in an ongoing effort to ultimately endear herself to someone who will finance her desired lifestyle.
Smithereens is the story of Wren Susan Berman, an independent spirit from New Jersey trying to selfpromote herself into the New York punk scene. She meets Paul Brad Rijn, who ran away from Montana and lives out of his van in a parking lot. Paul seems to offer genuine friendship, however, Wren is only interested in forming meaningless relationships in hopes of bolstering her nonexistent career. She has no musical talents or industry skills, yet she aggressively pursues a pathetic spot for herself in places like the Peppermint Lounge. She drops Paul for Eric Richard Hell, who also performs on the musical score, who has a record deal, and they work out a plan to escape to California, which requires Wren to pose as a prostitute in order to scam money from a prospective john. Things dont work out, and Wren finds herself hitting one wall after another, eventually getting kicked out of her apartment. With no place to go, Wren seeks out everyone she knows in the city, only to find herself left alone.This film was one of the first American independent films to be selected for the Cannes Film Festival. Lead actress Susan Berman had no prior experience acting in a film. She was picked out of a theater crowd of an offBroadway play by director Susan Seidelman to be in this film. In the words of Berman, The only ones in the crowd were friends of the actors, or someone who knew someone who was involved. After the performance, these two people walked up to me and offered me a role in a feature length movie. For preparation, director Susan Seidelman told her actress Susan Berman to see the Federico Fellini film Nights of Cabiria before beginning to research her role. Seidelman used friends from her days as a student at NYU as a crew. ........
Source: Wikipedia