Eliza Hittman tells stories about New York. Her latest follows two teenage girls from rural Pennsylvania who embark on a journey to New York City after one of them is faced with an unintended pregnancy. Read more about Eliza’s decision of NYC as for the backdrop for Never Rarely Sometimes Always here. Below are her five favorite movies about the city she calls home.
It provides a street-level, voyeur's view of Coney Island thanks to its unique use of a hidden camera. The entire film was shot with the camera in a cardboard box. To watch so many people, on film, at this period of history is incredible. Every generation of my family has spent summers at Coney Island, it gives me a window into what their experience might have been like.
A film that explores the unique bonds of female friendship in New York and what happens when that bond breaks. It's the quintessential story about a woman with professional and creative ambition in the Big City and fear of marriage and domestic suburban expectations that surrounds her.
"Taxi Driver" is such a nostalgic portrait of Times Square, but also a documentary-like view of a taxi driver's life. The use of the subjective camera and narration is inspiring.
This is just such a great timepiece of Bay Ridge and South Brooklyn in the late-70s. Bay Ridge is a wonderfully specific part of Brooklyn, even today, but it's still somehow off the radar. The themes it explores - the stagnancy and the dead-end existences on the margins of the City, have had a big influence on my work.
It perfectly captured the energy and tone of Manhattan in the '90s from the point of view of invincible teenagers. It felt eerily close to my world.
