Blank Generation

Richard Hell and the Voidoids had one of the great band names of the '70s New York punk scene, while their signature song “Blank Generation” became a classic of its genre. Unfortunately, that title is also the best thing about German director Ulli Lommel's film (shot in 1978 and released two years later), which never comes close to matching the tune's manic energy and appeal. Hell is amateurishly appealing as Billy, a disaffected punk rocker supposedly on the verge of hitting the big time, which is enough to attract Nada (Carole Bouquet), a young French journalist who quickly moves from interviewing him to sleeping with him. Overall, their relationship makes little sense. Nada's beauty is undeniable (within a year Bouquet was James Bond's love interest in For Your Eyes Only), but she's also angry, demanding, and flighty as she divides her attentions between Billy and her other lover, a German journalist (played by Lommel) who comes to New York to interview Andy Warhol (predictably cryptic in his one brief scene). In fact, narrative-wise, not much in this disjointed, poorly written, sloppily edited film does make sense. The music's good, including several songs by Hell and the Voidoids performed live at the legendary CBGB's in the Bowery, and the film does convey the dark squalor of New York's Lower East Side in the late 1970s. But it's a bad sign when the star notes, quite accurately, that the lengthy recent interview included as a DVD extra “is better than the movie itself.” Not a necessary purchase. (S. Graham)