Downtown '81

Its bygone-ness still abuzz with creativity and movement, "Downtown 81" is a celluloid scrapbook that we can all be thankful for in helping capture the rumble before takeoff.

For anyone steeped in or curious about the often uncategorizable music made during this period, Downtown 81 is a joyous artifact.

This time capsule of bohemian New York distorts its representation of the city for reasons more loving than lazy.

It's perhaps not a magical portal but an always-open, inviting one that promises a journey to a lost city of artists and roadside fairies where Basquiat sits on a chair, drawing on Man Ray portraits with a Sharpie.