Streetwise (1984)

it’s hard for me to even try to read what other people have said about this so it feels foolish for me to add onto that. i finished it last night and i keep thinking of the coke can on the casket, dewayne tugging at his sock while talking to his doctor, the seconds in the…

Laura

Some moments out of time: Tiny and Rat's embrace in the juvenal detention cell. Dewayne's conversation with his father in jail. Rat's jumping off the bridge. Lulu hitting the homeless guy. Lulu hitting the cop. Basically any time Lulu spoke. The kid's…

Timcop

It's a terrible thing to define a movie by what it isn't. That the subject of this documentary is homeless youth, however, makes it's too tempting to not point out the obvious pitfalls it avoids: It's never didactic, saccharine, condescending, judgmental, preachy, or…

laird

“You learn how to fight, one way or another, or you disappear. I know how to fight but I like disappearing.”  I was not even remotely prepared for how emotionally hardhitting Streetwise proves to be. One of the worst parts about living in the Seattle area is listening to…

claira curtis

one of those magical moments in documentary filmmaking, where a sophisticated skillset finds authentic characters and a great eye meets truthfully bitter reality.

shookone

American Exceptionalism is dead. Its body left to rot in an alleyway, flies joyfully feasting on its festering organs boiling in the heat, steam from the nearby factory cooking it to medium rare, as directionless youth plunder a dumpster for half-eaten wings. Its body…

PopcornIdeology

I hope these kids are doing well. Wherever they are.

Hailli

Streetwise is one of the darkest and realest documentaries of all time. It follows a large cast of loosely connected homeless street kids during 1984 in Seattle. This was a time when seeing homeless kids on the street asking for money and taking care of themselves wasn't…

evilbjork

Heartfelt portrayal of the tragic cycle of failed parenting. Man hands on misery to man and it deepens like a coastal shelf. Get out as early as you can, and don’t have any kids yourself.

CinemaVoid 🏴‍☠️