If you haven't seen Downtown 81 yet and you have a fetish for New York in the 80's, do yourself a favor and rent it now.

"This film, directed by Edo Bertoglio, written by Glenn O'Brien and produced by O'Brien and Maripol, is a rare real-life snapshot of ultra-hip subculture of post-punk era Manhattan. Starring renowned artist Jean-Michel Basquiat and featuring such early Village hipsters as James Chance, Amos Poe, Walter Steding, and Tav Falco, the film is a bizarre elliptical urban fairytale." Read the full Wiki entry here.

Word of warning: the acting is horrible and they lost the original soundtrack so the whole thing is dubbed kinda like a bad kung fu movie. On the upside, you see the most amazing shots of the bombed-out LES and East Village from the 80's and it stars Basquiat and a cast of characters from the downtown scene, including Deborah Harry, Fab Five Freddy, and Kid Creole and the Coconuts.

The soundtrack is hit or miss, but features a song that I can't stop listening to by Suicide called Cheree. It's one of the sexiest songs I've heard in forever! (Thanks again Lara)

"Suicide is an American rock music group intermittently active since 1971 and composed of Alan Vega and Martin Rev. Never widely popular amongst the general public, Suicide are nonetheless hugely influential: critic Wilson Neate writes that Suicide 'would prove as influential as The Clash. Listening to their self-titled 1977 debut from the vantage point of late 2002, it's all so obvious: the synth pop, techno, and industrial dance sounds of the '80s and '90s, and now the new New Wave of electroclash, all gesture back to that foundational album.'"

Read the full Wiki here. And don't forget to listen to Cheree. It's the song that plays as Basquiat drives off into the night or dawn. I forget. The song is so hot though. It reminds me of Sofia Coppola's use of Just Like Honey in Lost In Translation.

PS: Has anyone seen this trainwreck of a video of The Jesus And Mary Chain singing Just Like Honey @ Coachella with Scarlett Johannson? Ouch!! My bloody ears. Someone needs to stick to bad acting and not bad singing.