Who payed the critics

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

I saw this film back in 1978 when it first came out and I liked it immediately. Now, 32 years later, I think it's a MASTERPIECE. The music was composed by Elliot Goldenthal, who received the Oscar a few years back and has become one of Hollywood;s top composers. Ed Lachmann, who is actually not credited, did the camera work. It's sublime. Carole Bouquet, who was a virtual unknown when this movie was made, has risen to super stardom. And the punk rock music is awesome. The main locale is Manhattan's CBGB's which no longer exists, but used to be the venue for the Ramones and Blondie.Andy Warhol is in is an hilarious, he also produced this film for Ulli Lommel (it's Lommel's first US film BTW). It's a cool and engaging love story and looks like it was made yesterday. If ever there was a cult masterpiece, THIS IS IT!!!!!

For archival value alone, this is a great document of one of the originators of US punk, Richard Hell. But like most New York downtown hipster footage from that era, as a film it's pretty lame. Badly acted but with some interested ideas and commentary on the news media. Part of this is justified by theorizing about punk as romantic decadence, throwing out the notion of quality for the sake of "keeping it real". Well, twenty five years on, a lot of the punk "honesty" is just plain boring. Basically, get this movie for the live clips of the Voidoids playing in CBGB's, and forget the rest. Even Andy Warhol can't save this one. What I want to know is, how much of this movie was based on the relationship between Hell and Lizzy Mercier?

..."Blank Generation" is at least worth a look if you enjoy Richard Hell's music. I love his stuff, personally, so the few live performances in the film are definite highlights. Other than that, it's a pretty boring love/hate story between Hell and French ex-Bond Girl Carole Bouquet (sp? oh well...).Hell is no actor, and neither is anyone else in the movie. In fact, all the acting flat out sucks. One scene which actually shows a little promise is the one between Billy (Hell) and Nada (Bouquet) as they drive along in his car trying to decide what to do on a dreary New York Friday afternoon. After Billy changes his mind three or four times, Nada freaks out and throws him out of the car. That's about it. Even that scene is more comic than anything -- so if that was the intention, great, but if the director was trying to coax some drama out of the script there, well, he failed. Even Hell is almost cracking a smile during the scene.Still... the live performances ("Liars Beware," "Blank Generation" and "Love Comes in Spurts") are hot stuff. Too bad there are only three live numbers in "Blank Generation", and a little snippet of Hell "recording" "New Pleasures" is sort of goofy, but cool. So unless you're a big Hell fan, or want to see the barely five minute long Andy Warhol interview sequence, skip it.

How much you enjoy Blank Generation will depend on how big a fan of Richard Hell you are. If, like me, you think he was the coolest, most talented, most intelligent, and most charismatic 70s punk, then this movie is a must see! Hell does what he does best, being MR COOL, Carole Bouquet is stunningly beautiful, and Warhol puts in a brief but memorable appearance. To top it all off the film is full of the music of Hell and The Voidoids (Robert Quine, Ivan Julian and Mark Bell) who are really on fire. Their live performances are sensational and are worth watching this for alone. A forgotten punk classic.