Smithereens

Wren (Berman) is a working class girl from the wrong side of the Hudson River, come to Manhattan to take her peck at the big, bad apple. Equipped with little more than a talent for self-promotion, she plays the peacock in her bright punk plumage, chasing a dream of rock'n'roll fame and fortune amid the lotus eaters of the Lower East Side. This debut feature from Seidelman (ex-New York Film School) may be small and unambitious, but its old tale of the little girl lost in the city is told with energy and verve. Seidelman's sure feeling for the squalor and glamour of urban decay, and her speedy, stylish editing, combine with a pulsating soundtrack from The Feelies to create a febrile sense of Lower Manhattan street life: fast living on a permanent adrenalin high.