NYC has changed. The new film A Most Violent Year, with Oscar Isaac as the lead, meticulously chronicles the vibe and feel of the NYC landscape from a Staten Islander’s point of view, set in the same year as this new documentary, 1981. It reminded me a bit of the other NYC classic film noire The French Connection with Gene Hackman. I saw many graffed train cars and a lot of hustlers just trying to get by in any way, shape, or form. You never knew what would be around the corner or who would get chased down or robbed. No one, and I mean no one, fucked with the cops.
This new doc, apparently inspired by the film, NYC, 1981 tells the many stories in a time when all the little hidden people dominated this vast metropolis, from business owners, to gangs, spiritual leaders, cabbies, cops, and drug dealers. Take a whiff, ahhhh…, you smell that? That was the old New York City.
