Hanging Out Yonkers

MOVIE #1,569 • 🍿🍿🍿 • 04.25.24 ALBERT & AKERMAN: AN AUTEURIST STUDY IN CONTRAST + CONTINUUM What are we supposed to glean from this other than perhaps not everything is worth salvaging? (I don't really believe that, by the way, though the case can be made here — at least in this form*) This unfinished 26-minute soundless reel that follows a rehabilitation program of juvenile delinquents in the titular NYC neighborhood is exactly what you think it is. Compared to the other silent Akerman work of this era there's one glaringly obvious problem: this wasn't intended to not have sound. It's a documentary. We see the subjects’ mouths moving, clearly answering questions from the director off-screen. I am, unfortunately, not a lip-reader so beyond the nice aesthetics of this 70s New York interior, this has little to offer. I watched it on 4x speed as I ate my lunch. Here's what my lunch looked like…

* I understand that the release of this footage, never in any official capacity, was likely out of Akerman’s control. So perhaps the correct thought would be not to critique this material at all? This is a problem that will likely resurface on both sides of the equation during this project.

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Hanging Out Yonkers is an unfinished 1973 Belgian-American documentary movie by Chantal Akerman. The movie was shot at the request of a welfare organisation. It follows a rehabilitation program of juvenile delinquents. Akerman recorded many hours of interviews. It was released on March 7, 1973.