normrinks Yeah, this is it! The ultimate pop-punk-Warhol experience. A wild love triangle, that was shot many years prior to SEX, LIES AND VIDEO TAPE and is much cooler and deeper. Carole Bouquet in the role of NADA LUMIERE is so sexy and cool, Richard Hell as BILLY is riveting, ULLI LOMMEL as Hoffritz is very funny and Andy Warhol as himself is the best! There is so much cool punk rock music in the film, the entire Blank Generation album, it's a real treat, yeah. All the locations show Manhattan, especially SOHO and the Lower Eastside as they were rocking in the late 70s, and even the World Trade Center is in it in a very cool shot from the Staten Island Ferry. I had to order this DVD from Japan, where the movie is a big hit - those Japanese obviously know what's good and cool, I was unable to score a new DVD here in the States, why is that? The producers should do a US release on this one, it's obligatory, because there must be a zillion punk rock, 70s pop fans out there.

rmeers2010 I saw this film back in 1978 when it first came out and I liked it immediately. Now, 32 years later, I think it's a MASTERPIECE. The music was composed by Elliot Goldenthal, who received the Oscar a few years back and has become one of Hollywood;s top composers. Ed Lachmann, who is actually not credited, did the camera work. It's sublime. Carole Bouquet, who was a virtual unknown when this movie was made, has risen to super stardom. And the punk rock music is awesome. The main locale is Manhattan's CBGB's which no longer exists, but used to be the venue for the Ramones and Blondie.Andy Warhol is in is an hilarious, he also produced this film for Ulli Lommel (it's Lommel's first US film BTW). It's a cool and engaging love story and looks like it was made yesterday. If ever there was a cult masterpiece, THIS IS IT!!!!!

kdefores For archival value alone, this is a great document of one of the originators of US punk, Richard Hell. But like most New York downtown hipster footage from that era, as a film it's pretty lame. Badly acted but with some interested ideas and commentary on the news media. Part of this is justified by theorizing about punk as romantic decadence, throwing out the notion of quality for the sake of "keeping it real". Well, twenty five years on, a lot of the punk "honesty" is just plain boring. Basically, get this movie for the live clips of the Voidoids playing in CBGB's, and forget the rest. Even Andy Warhol can't save this one. What I want to know is, how much of this movie was based on the relationship between Hell and Lizzy Mercier?

all_movies_suck ..."Blank Generation" is at least worth a look if you enjoy Richard Hell's music. I love his stuff, personally, so the few live performances in the film are definite highlights. Other than that, it's a pretty boring love/hate story between Hell and French ex-Bond Girl Carole Bouquet (sp? oh well...).Hell is no actor, and neither is anyone else in the movie. In fact, all the acting flat out sucks. One scene which actually shows a little promise is the one between Billy (Hell) and Nada (Bouquet) as they drive along in his car trying to decide what to do on a dreary New York Friday afternoon. After Billy changes his mind three or four times, Nada freaks out and throws him out of the car. That's about it. Even that scene is more comic than anything -- so if that was the intention, great, but if the director was trying to coax some drama out of the script there, well, he failed. Even Hell is almost cracking a smile during the scene.Still... the live performances ("Liars Beware," "Blank Generation" and "Love Comes in Spurts") are hot stuff. Too bad there are only three live numbers in "Blank Generation", and a little snippet of Hell "recording" "New Pleasures" is sort of goofy, but cool. So unless you're a big Hell fan, or want to see the barely five minute long Andy Warhol interview sequence, skip it.