THIS WEEK'S EPISODE:

Episode #1031: I Didn't Read the Book
First Broadcast: 9/8/25
This week, we take a look at the recently released film Caught Stealing by Darren Aronofsky, which was shot in and around the East Village in 2024, with various locations dressed up to resemble the neighborhood as it was in 1998, when the story in the film is supposed to take place. Since Camerawoman Kim and I are, to put it mildly, very familiar with the how the neighborhood was during the time depicted in the movie, we reflect on how well the movie resembled reality, how successful (or not) the film was at recreating the past, and what we thought of the film in general. We start by comparing the film to four films that Aronofsky himself explicity said were influences on this film, namely After Hours, Something Wild, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, and The French Connection, which all showcase a gritty, grimy New York City that Aronofsky was clearly trying to emulate, but all those movies had the advantage of filming in their own present, as opposed to trying to recreate the past. Perhaps a better comparison might be with Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood, which recreated the past with superior set design, or The Big Lebowski, which was a period piece with a much more palatable blend of comedy with a convulted neo-noir storyline but without extreme violence. Or, if you prefer another film based in New York, maybe Goodfellas is more appropriate, since that movie presented a much more immersive recreation of the past and provided what I think was a much better balance of humor and violence overall. One can also be tempted to compare this film to Dog Day Afternoon, or Mean Streets, or Taxi Driver, or Saturday Night Fever, or Smithereens, or Liquid Sky, or even the recently re-released Night of the Juggler for other views of the seedier sides of New York City, but again, all those were shot in their own version of the present, with the city as a supporting character, and not just as a backdrop. Or, one can compare this to something like The Maltese Falcon or The Big Sleep for intricate crime stories, or something like Saboteur for a "wrong man" on the run, or Psycho, or The Birds, or Jaws for book adaptions that excelled by not including everything in the book, if that was limiting what could be done with this movie (did I mention that I didn't read the novel this film was based on?). I could also mention how the credits resembled something closer to Repo Man or Return of the Pink Panther, which made them feel incongruous compared to the rest of the film. The end result, I think, is a film that felt like it was trying to be Desperately Seeking Susan, or Repo Man, or The Big Lebowski, but instead ended up feeling more like Serpico meets Inherent Vice meets Eyes Wide Shut, a violent, convoluted drama where New York City feels less like a co-star and more like a canvas on which one can imagine where old New York used to be. P.S.: This film is called "Caught Stealing" and takes place in the 1990s, and this song didn't appear in it once?!? I feel cheated!

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So, what is Free New York anyway? The simple answer is that it's a this neat little public access TV show on Manhattan Neighborhood Network which I co-produce with the tremendous help of my camerawoman/editor/everything else, Kim. The complicated answer is that it's a project of mine to broadcast opinions and events which don't always appear within "the mainstream media" (like The New York Times, the major networks, local radio, etc.), and so far I think it's been working.

If you think I'm doing a good job--or not--and you feel like sending me snail mail, the address is:

Free New York
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last updated September 7, 2025
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