@2026 by mezzanine film, inc.
RHYTHM THIEF
Directed by Matthew Harrison
1994, U.S., 88m, DCP
World premiere of a new 4K restoration, courtesy of Kino Lorber
Followed by a conversation with director Matthew Harrison. 30th anniversary!
Wednesday, September 25
2220 Arts + Archives
2220 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90057
doors/bar: 7:30pm
film: 8pm
Matthew Harrison’s gritty and electrifying NYC street drama—made for $11,000 at the height of the ‘90s American indie boom—is a time capsule of hard-knock city living in a pre-gentrification Lower East Side, shot in hypnotic high-contrast black-and-white. A cassette-tape bootlegger (Jason Andrews) is down and out on Delancey Street, barely scraping out a living while seeing his on-and-off girlfriend (Kimberly Flynn) and fending off his wannabe-sidekick (Kevin Corrigan), eventually incurring the wrath of a group he’s ripped off (led by Bush Tetras singer Cynthia Sley). Upon its 1994 release, Rhythm Thief was praised by Scorsese and walked away with a directing prize at Sundance, yet has remained among what Richard Brody describes among a “lost generation of independent films” from the 1990s. We are thrilled to present a new restoration of this ‘90s indie classic ripe for rediscovery.
Winner: Special Jury Mention for Directing, Sundance Film Festival, 1994
“Inventive, exciting, original.” -Martin Scorsese
"In its best moments this crude black-and-white film has the edgy, loose-jointed spontaneity of a hip-hop, avant-funk "Breathless," but one with a grimier neo-realist view of urban life." -The New York Times
“[I] immediately admired Harrison’s tender but subtle comic inventiveness, his sense of place, and his hard-nosed practical vitality—the authentic tough-mindedness and feel for the desperately high stakes of just getting by.” -Richard Brody, The New Yorker
Special thanks to George Schmalz (Kino Lorber).