Permanent Vacation

PERMANENT VACATION is a story that follows two and a half days in the life of Aloysious Parker (Chris Parker), a young “wanderer between worlds” who has no home, no education, and no job. He has lived in all kinds of situations and with all kinds of people—most of whom, like him, have “dropped out” of the daily working world. Allie is now 16 years old and meets other misfits in the course of strange encounters. He is always on the move, always a little ahead of what seems to be pursuing him.

Jim Jarmusch's 1980 debut is a sonorous portrait of New York, accompanied by traditional Javanese music and saxophone improvisations by actor and musician John Lurie. Jarmusch unofficially dedicated the film to director Nicholas Ray (“... because they don't know what they're doing”), who died the day before filming began and had a major influence on Jarmusch.

Jarmusch's $12,000 graduation film for the New York Film Academy, which the instructors deemed too poor for certification. A sixteen-year-old wanders through the Lower East Side, New York's shabby backyard, always dissatisfied without knowing why, always on the move without knowing where. Accompanied by the saxophone of “Loung Lizards” John Lurie. [mm]