Permanent Vacation

Permanent vacation is a 1980 feature film directed by Jim Jarmusch. The story is centred around the main protagonist Aloysious Parker (Chris Parker) and involves his nomadic journey around Manhatten and the characters he meets along the way. I was made aware of the film through clips featured in the Blank City documentary and was immediately drawn towards the main character and the cinematography. My impression of no wave film had been that the acting would be very poor and the films hard to watch. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the shots and direction. The acting was very wooden as expected but this was to be expected from the amateur cast and wasn't helped by the at times clunky dialogue. It's clear that this film is very largely about the aesthetic and principles behind the screenplay. It's lo-fi techniques including grainy super 8 film and poor quality sound equipment are a reflection of the ethos of the era and add to the overall charm. The lead character seems lost in a big city that is facing a lot of problems from its past, prompting him to eventually up sticks and move to Paris leaving his life behind.



Here are some screenshots of key imagery from the film:

Aloysious' girlfriend as seen early on in their flat  

Alo has his cigarette the wrong way round which is corrected by this gf - a metaphor for the youthful naivety of the scene 

Alo meets a war veteran who is clearly delusional and believes he is still under danger in Vietnam

the rubble and urban decay allows for some wonderful shots 

early on alo is seen spray painting - a popular movement of expression at the time

He visits his mother in a mental hospital that is very unnerving - the patients ask about the war 

A man at the cinema tells him a tale of a sax player who wanted to be different and didn't fit into the mainstream so he killed himself - the personification of No Wave 

a woman is screaming in a foreign language and appears to be religious - a clear statement that fit with the shock factor of the time 

Famous actor John Lurie plays the saxophone in a distinctively dissonant, no wave style 

the ruinous downtown 

Alo steals a car and sells it for $800, demonstrating the illicit behaviour and attitude of the time 

Alo is seen leaving on a boat to Paris

 "let's just say I'm a certain kind of tourist, a tourist that's on a permanent vacation"