Permanent Vacation

Name: Permanent Vacation
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Released: March 6, 1981
Duration: 75 min
Rating: 69
Cast: Charlie Spademan, Chris Parker, Evelyn Smith, Jane Fire, John Lurie

1981

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 4 Critic Reviews

See All

USER SCORE

No score yet

tbd

VOTE NOW

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

tbd	Your Score
tbd	User Score No score yet

Would you like to write a review?

There is a 75 character minimum for reviews. If your review contains spoilers, please check the Spoiler box. Please do not use ALL CAPS. There is no linking or other HTML allowed. Your review may be edited for content. 0/5000

Check box if your review contains spoilers

Play Sound

Please enter your birth date to watch this video:

You are not allowed to view this material at this time.

Permanent Vacation

Now Playing: Permanent Vacation

Movie Details & Credits

Criterion Collection, The | Release Date: March 6, 1981 | Not Rated

Starring: Charlie Spademan, Chris Parker, Evelyn Smith, Jane Fire, John Lurie, Leila Gastil, María Duval, Richard Boes, Ruth Bolton, Sara Driver

Summary: A young man wanders New York City searching for some meaning in life and encounters many idiosyncratic characters.

Director: Jim Jarmusch

Genre(s): Drama, Comedy

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 75 min

See All Details and Credits

Watch Now

Buy on

Stream On

Expand

Metascore

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

Critic Reviews

IndieWire Eric Eidelstein

For all its youthful self-seriousness (or maybe in part because of it), Permanent Vacation is a touching vision of what it was like to be head over heels with art, love, and oneself in late-1970s New York. Read full review

Vincent Canby

It's a must-see for anyone who shares the belief that Mr. Jarmusch is the most arresting and original American film maker to come out of the 1980's. Read full review

Time Out London Staff (Not Credited)

Jim Jarmusch's 16mm feature debut, made not long after the writer/director graduated from film school, is an oblique study of a young man (Parker) adrift on the streets of New York. As he roams, he has chance encounters with a car thief, a saxophone player and a grizzled war veteran, among others. Learning their stories, he begins to seem more and more isolated. Read full review

TV Guide Magazine Staff (Not Credited)

The film presents its characters in a series of vignettes rather than in a traditional story. While it gives evidence of cinematic skill, it has a tendency to draw attention to its film-school parentage. Read full review

SEE ALL 4 REVIEWS

Write a Review

Negative:

User Reviews

JLuis_001

May 7, 2023

Jim Jarmusch's debut is impressively minimalist and to some extent experimental.

Its disparity is what makes arthouse films so exciting. And that's because between the eccentric, the ironic, the unique and what will no doubt fall into the pretentious category, Permanent Vacation has aJim Jarmusch's debut is impressively minimalist and to some extent experimental.

Its disparity is what makes arthouse films so exciting. And that's because between the eccentric, the ironic, the unique and what will no doubt fall into the pretentious category, Permanent Vacation has a little bit of everything, but obviously even with the prestige its director now has, the fact that this film is still being talked about more than 40 years after its release goes without saying that he did something very well and in my opinion that's certainly accurate.

It may seem a bit slow and confusing but like I said, being so divisive in terms of criteria this can be an excellent introduction for those who have never seen a film by this director and those who have, know very well what they are getting into.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

SEE ALL 1 REVIEWS