There was a little indie movie released in 1993 by a director named Amir Naderi called "Manhattan By Numbers." I remember getting very excited about it at the time. Concerned with the plight of a newly laid-off journalist caught between a rock and a hard place, the film tracks the luckless protagonist's trajectory as he searches for a friend to help him meet his financial needs (before he and his fracturing family are evicted from their rental by an unforgiving landlord). In short order, however, the journalist's endeavor to find his mysterious friend takes the story off into another direction. This friend, it seems, leads a strikingly more mysterious life than the journalist had ever been aware of. Our furrowed-brow hero gradually makes his way downtown, following clue after clue from a variety of sources, until he learns that his enigmatic friend was involved in a some sort of insurrectionist movement in Tompkins Square Park. Or something.
Sounds good, right?
To be honest, I remember feeling pretty let down by the finished product. If I recall correctly, the pace of the film was plodding and talky and the narrative structure left a great deal to be desired. I don't even remember how the film's story concludes (yes, it left that much of an impression). I suppose I'd been hoping for something akin to Scorsese's "After Hours" or some other cool neighborhood character study, but I just remember feeling bored and disappointed by the outcome. In any case, however, I stumbled upon the below snippet the other day and it struck me that I'd be curious to see it again, not just because the plot line veers disquietingly ever-close to my own circumstances, but just to check out the (invariably) unrecognizable locales today. It would probably make for some striking contrast.
In any case, here's that snippet I was talking about. Enjoy.
Recent Comments