Sidewalk Stories (1989) DVD9, Blu-Ray, download for free

Nov21

Sidewalk Stories (1989) DVD9, Blu-Ray

by movieworld on November 21st, 2015 at 10:58

The main protagonist in Sidewalk Stories is a young artist who spends most of his time in the financial district of New York City. He draws sketches of strangers and with the money they give him he buys food and water. He sleeps in an abandoned building somewhere on the outskirts of the city.

The artist's life changes dramatically when he witnesses the murder of man in a black alley. Next to him he discovers his little daughter and hides her from the killers. When the police arrive, he quietly leaves with her.

The man plans to leave the girl on a busy street so that someone else can take care of her, but changes his mind and brings her to his place. Then, despite the bitterly cold weather, he begins taking her with him to the financial district. Her drawings prove hugely successful.

Around the same time the artist befriends the kind owner of a tiny clothing store. She quickly falls in love with the couple and invites them to have dinner with her. The artist visits her place and for a short period of time imagines being in a serious relationship with her, but then realizes that she belongs to an entirely different world.

Directed by Charles Lane in 1989, Sidewalk Stories is a charming silent film which falls somewhere between Charlie Chaplin's classic The Kid and Michel Hazanavicius' recent Oscar winner The Artist. Though not as well polished and inventive as these celebrated films, it very much matches their energy and sense of humor.

Director: Charles Lane
Cast: Charles Lane, Nicole Alysia, Tom Alpern
Country: USA
Genre: Comedy, Silent

Extras:
• Audio Commentary - a wonderful and very enthusiastic audio commentary with Charles Lane and composer Marc Marder. The two gentlemen discuss how key sequences were shot and how they were scored, the interactions between the different instruments (there are unique themes that are attached to specific characters), the film's sense of humor, etc.

• Vibrations - presented here is a filmed conversation with Charles Lane and Marc Marder conducted by film historian Greg Ford. Charles Lane explains how Sidewalk Stories came to exist (it was inspired by Charlie Chaplin's The Kid and J. Lee Thompson's Tiger Bay), and discusses the film's visual style and some of its social overtone. Marc Marder also addresses the scoring of the film. The featurette was produced exclusively for Carlotta Films by Allerton Films. In English, not subtitled. (29 min).

• "A Place in Time" (1977) - presented here is Charles Lane's first short film A Place in Time. The film, whose main protagonist is again a street artist played by Charles Lane, was scored by Marc Marder. Music only. (35 min).

• Trailer - new trailer for the recent 2K restoration of Sidewalk Stories. Music only.

DVD9 | NTSC 16:9 | 01:41:11 | 7.53 Gb + 3% rec
Language: Music only
Subtitles: none