Subway Riders — Subway Riders(DVD)

Subway Riders is a 1981 film written, produced and directed by Amos Poe, famous as a pioneer of No Wave cinema. The film features several notable figures: Cookie Mueller, who had previously acted in several of John Waters’ classic early 1970s works, John Lurie, who would later become known for his saxophone playing with the New York no-wave jazz outfit Lounge Lizards, and Robbie Coltrane, here in one of his earliest roles before acquiring fame for his lead performance in Cracker, and as Rubeus Hagrid in the Harry Potter films. 

Subway Riders is just shy of two hours in duration, and centres on a series of murders and the police pursuit of the killer: a saxophonist who lures people to their deaths with his playing. That’s the simple summary, the reality is a film that is often hard to follow, with a narrative that isn’t signposted; this is frustrating, however, coupled with Poe’s imagery it does create an atmosphere with a dreamlike quality. The film is predominantly murky and gritty, even fuzzy, and also glitches in places; many scenes are also filmed at night or in dark scenarios. Adding to this obscuration are lots of odd shots, where it’s unclear whether it is deliberate framing on Poe’s part, or some cropping of the original that has occurred for the DVD transfer. All of these visual aspects, combined with the abstruse narrative, as earlier stated, create a dreamlike quality, but it’s a distinctly 80s dream.

Whilst it shares the deteriorated wow and flutter of vapourwave, Subway Riders has a much darker, seedier aesthetic - reflecting No Wave concerns with the urban degradation and energy of New York. Poe also makes great use of tinting - or lighting - with certain environments (in this case, both rooms) starkly bathed in either blue or red light, reminding me of the tinting in early silent films. So visually, even if the film is not the simplest narrative to follow, Subway Riders is often arresting. Sonically, the film is quite beautiful. As you might expect it has lots of saxophone, played wonderfully by Lurie, with one set-piece, in particular, featuring a compelling solo as he stalks his apartment room - though I would argue that his skronking busking is not exactly ‘haunting music’ capable of luring his victims, despite what the back cover of the DVD thinks… There are also several contributions on the soundtrack from Lurie’s Lounge Lizards, providing more angular no-wave jazz skronk. The surprise, though, is the incredible synth work scattered across the film: sometimes sounding like primitive ambient music, sometimes like gritty industrial synth akin to Maurizio Bianchi - really, really good, and quite perfect for the film’s visual aesthetic.

Subway Riders’ highest value lies perhaps in its outlying elements, rather than the central thrust of the film itself: the soundtrack, the visuals, the historical significance of featuring one of Coltrane’s first roles, and Lurie’s saxophone solos. The film is not an easy watch, but it does capture - to my mind - the No Wave aesthetic (which I come to from a musical angle) very well. The DVD has no extras, which is a shame as further commentary or documentation might have opened the film up more, but instead, Subway Riders stands alone as a murky, lo-fi trip into New York noir