{"id":9726,"date":"2009-10-01T10:09:43","date_gmt":"2009-10-01T17:09:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=9726"},"modified":"2021-01-28T15:01:33","modified_gmt":"2021-01-28T22:01:33","slug":"streetwise-1984","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=9726","title":{"rendered":"Streetwise (1984)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;You wanna be downtown, you wanna be cool, you better learn the ways of the street.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/Streetwise-Poster.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/Streetwise-Poster-200x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-66556\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/Streetwise-Poster-200x300.png 200w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/Streetwise-Poster-682x1024.png 682w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/Streetwise-Poster-85x128.png 85w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/Streetwise-Poster-180x270.png 180w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/Streetwise-Poster.png 723w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nHomeless teens survive on the streets of Seattle by panhandling, dumpster diving, selling drugs, and prostituting themselves.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Documentary<\/li>\n<li>Homeless<\/li>\n<li>Survival<\/li>\n<li>Teenagers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary&#8217;s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nAs Peary notes, this Oscar-nominated documentary about &#8220;street kids living in Seattle&#8217;s tenderloin&#8221; &#8212; a &#8220;world of street brawls, drugs, perverts on the make, filth, hassles with the police, frequent busts&#8221; &#8212; is &#8220;bruising <em>cinema verite<\/em>&#8220;. While the kids may &#8220;seem happy to be free of their parents and enjoying life on their own&#8221;, this is simply because life at home with their irresponsible and\/or abusive parents and stepparents was so much worse. Indeed, some of the film&#8217;s most haunting sequences involve the kids visiting their parents, who are astonishingly blase about the fact that their kids are making a living on the street: one (an alcoholic waitress) simply assumes it&#8217;s a &#8220;phase&#8221; her daughter is going through, while another (a father in jail for burglary and arson) appears to want the best for his son but simultaneously ridicules and belittles him. It&#8217;s truly impressive how much access filmmakers Martin Bell, Mary Ellen Mark, and Cheryl McCall (whose initial article for <em>Life<\/em> magazine inspired the documentary) gain into the private lives of the kids and their families, down to hearing young pimps openly soliciting girls to work for them (weren&#8217;t they afraid of exposure?). Despite the recent glut of &#8220;reality&#8221; T.V. and documentaries, this early glimpse into the lives of homeless teens rises a cut above, and is guaranteed to linger in your thoughts long after it&#8217;s over. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Note:<\/strong> A 23-minute follow-up film was made about the life of one of the teens showcased in the movie (&#8220;Tiny&#8221;), but I haven&#8217;t yet been able to locate a copy. Any hints are most welcome.  <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Countless powerful sequences<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/streetwise-tiny.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/streetwise-tiny.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"464\" height=\"352\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9747\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/streetwise-father.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/streetwise-father.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"464\" height=\"352\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9748\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/streetwise-phone.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/streetwise-phone.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"464\" height=\"352\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9749\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes; this one will haunt you long after it&#8217;s over.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Historical Relevance<\/li>\n<li>Oscar Winner or Nominee<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0088196\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1985\/04\/02\/movies\/new-directors-new-films-streetwise-on-homeless-youths.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/reviews\/streetwise-1985\">Roger Ebert&#8217;s Review (SPOILER ALERT!)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.timeout.com\/film\/reviews\/75496\/streetwise.html\">Time Out Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;You wanna be downtown, you wanna be cool, you better learn the ways of the street.&#8221; Synopsis: Homeless teens survive on the streets of Seattle by panhandling, dumpster diving, selling drugs, and prostituting themselves. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Documentary Homeless Survival Teenagers Response to Peary&#8217;s Review: As Peary notes, this Oscar-nominated documentary about &#8220;street kids living in Seattle&#8217;s tenderloin&#8221; &#8212; a &#8220;world of street brawls, drugs, perverts on the make, filth, hassles with the police, frequent busts&#8221; &#8212; is&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=9726\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9726"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66558,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9726\/revisions\/66558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}