REVIEW: ‘Free Time,’ now playing virtually at Film Forum
Photo: Free Time salvages footage of New York City life in the late 1950s. Photo courtesy of Film Forum / Provided by official site.
Free Time, a new documentary directed by Manfred Kirchheimer, is actually not new at all. The film utilizes camera footage that the director and Walter Hess shot from 1958 to 1960 in the neighborhoods of New York City. Recently they placed all of the images together, added in a jazzy score and preserved these fascinating portraits of city life.
The one-hour feature has no traditional narrative, voiceover or script. Instead the audience is subject to a series of scenes set on the sidewalks and roads of the Big Apple. There are older residents setting up their lawn chairs in the shade of an apartment building. There are children playing stickball — quite determinedly — in the street as passing cars break up their game. Locals balance precipitously on the edges of their windows as they wash down the street-facing panes of glass.
Taken together, these images form an intricate tapestry of a city living, breathing and relaxing (as the title suggests, this is a showcasing of “free time”). Kirchheimer’s film travels around New York City, highlighting diverse families and meetings amongst friends. There’s no discussion of politics, race, ethnicity, poverty, policing, religion or education. Free Time is simply a document of the lived-in reality of New York City some 60 years ago. Within this close inspection, it becomes clear that the filmmaker is interested in the architectural uniqueness in the neighborhood and how energy and enthusiasm can be found around every corner. His delicate lens is framed by sunlight, shadow, water gushing out of a fire hydrant, the facades of walk-up brownstone apartment buildings, and the squares on the sidewalk.
Skeptics may decry the simplicity of a narrative-less feature like Free Time. There’s also an argument to be made that this generally bucolic image of New York City in the middle of the century was not shared by everyone. There was struggle and strife, far more than what the documentary offers. Kirchheimer is not denying that life in the city can be difficult and varied, but he is trying to celebrate a commonality amongst the families and individuals who are depicted enjoying the small wonders of life within the radius of a city block.
Free Time is a social document that is both breathtakingly easygoing and starkly beautiful. The images, sounds and musical score pop off the screen, and the resultant love for life is palpable and infectious.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Free Time (2020). Directed by Manfred Kirchheimer. Running time: 61 minutes. Currently playing virtually with Under the Brooklyn Bridge at the Film Forum in New York City. Click here for more information and tickets. Rating: 
