Slaves of New York | |
---|---|
Directed by | James Ivory |
Written by | Tama Janowitz based on her stories |
Produced by | Ismail Merchant Gary Hendler Fred Hughes (associate) Vincent Fremont (associate) |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Tony Pierce-Roberts |
Edited by | Katherine Wenning |
Music by | Richard Robbins (score) Boy George (theme song: Girlfriend) Michael Butler & Johann Carlo Neneh Cherry Les Rita Mitsouko Joe Leeway Ambitious Lovers Inner City Iggy Pop Maxi Priest |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Tri-Star Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 124 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $5.5 million [1] |
Box office | $463,972 |
Slaves of New York is a 1989 American comedy-drama Merchant Ivory Productions film. Directed by James Ivory and produced by Ismail Merchant, it stars Bernadette Peters, Adam Coleman Howard, Chris Sarandon, Mary Beth Hurt, Mercedes Ruehl, Madeleine Potter, and Steve Buscemi.
Based on the stories Slaves of New York by Tama Janowitz, the film follows the lives of struggling artists in New York City during the mid-1980s.
The story follows Eleanor, an aspiring hat designer, and a group of artists and models in the "downtown" New York City art world. Eleanor lives with her younger boyfriend Stash, an unknown artist, who is unfaithful and treats Eleanor with careless indifference. Eleanor expresses her feelings for Stash when she tells him that she was once attracted to him because he was dangerous. She stays with him despite the crumbling relationship because she has nowhere else to live—she is, in effect, a "slave".
When a clothing designer, Wilfredo, discovers her hat designs and offers to use them in a fashion show, Eleanor gains the self-respect—and money—to leave Stash. There is an elaborate fashion show sequence.
While buying food for a celebratory party, she meets Jan and invites him to the party. After the party, Eleanor and her new friend talk, and then ride off into the morning sunrise.
Tama Janowitz had written a script for Andy Warhol, based on the Eleanor and Stash stories in her 1986 collection of short stories, Slaves of New York. When Warhol died, Merchant Ivory bought that script. [2] The real graffiti artist from New York City named Stash, who is a friend of Janowitz, was the influence for the name of her lead character and can be seen as an extra in many of the party scenes.
The fashion show in the film had costumes by designer Stephen Sprouse. [3]
In discussing casting the role of Eleanor, James Ivory commented: "...but out of 100 girls, there was not a single one with Miss Peters's originality. We wanted someone unusual and different but also ingenuous and not too knowing". [3]
Slaves of New York was shot on location in New York City, in the Lower East Side, a downtown gallery and a club. Shooting started on April 4, 1988, with a 10-week shooting schedule. There was a "modest" budget—$5 million—that meant there were no lengthy rehearsals. There was one read-through before shooting began. [2]
There are several cameos in this film: for example, Producer Ismail Merchant, lyricist Betty Comden and Adam Green, son of her writing partner, Adolph Green, and Tony Award-winning actress Tammy Grimes appear in party scenes.
Slaves of New York received mostly unfavorable reviews at the time of its release. Janet Maslin wrote that the film "...simply drifts from situation to situation" and is "never terribly involving". [4] Roger Ebert, who gave the film a half-star rating, opened his review with the statement "I detest Slaves of New York so much that I distrust my own opinion". [5]
According to Box Office Mojo, the film's domestic gross was $463,972. [6] On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds a rating of 30% from 10 reviews. [7]
Slaves of New York became a cult classic amongst the gay communities in the United States. It is notorious for a scene that features a drag act performing "Love Is Like an Itching in My Heart" by The Supremes while making their way down a street in full evening gowns.
Steven Vincent Buscemi is an American actor. Buscemi is known for his work as an acclaimed character actor. His early credits consist of major roles in independent film productions such as the AIDS drama Parting Glances (1986), Mystery Train (1989), In the Soup (1992), and his breakout role as Mr. Pink in Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs (1992).
Bernadette Peters is an American actress, singer, and children's book author. Over a career spanning more than six decades, she has starred in musical theatre, television and film, performed in solo concerts and released recordings. She is a critically acclaimed Broadway performer, having received seven nominations for Tony Awards, winning two, and nine Drama Desk Award nominations, winning three. Four of the Broadway cast albums on which she has starred have won Grammy Awards.
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Tama Janowitz is an American novelist and a short story writer. She is often referenced as one of the main "brat pack" authors, along with Bret Easton Ellis and Jay McInerney.
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"Slaves of New York" is a collection of short stories by Tama Janowitz. Its premise is that finding an apartment in Manhattan is so expensive and hard to do that people in the fringes of the art scene, both male and female, end up with undesirable partners simply to have a place to live. Several stories feature Eleanor, who lives with a psychologically abusive visual artist whose work is obviously derivative of cartoons. The title story was published in The New Yorker.
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