“Sometimes I think I should just live fast and die young,” says Aloysious Parker, who seems to be the only living boy in New York throughout much of Jim Jarmusch's Permanent Vacation; a savage innocent who isn't very savage because he seems to have tuned out the horror (“is there a war on?”)--hence, his innocence. Likewise, Jarmusch has emptied New York of all that doesn't interest him and filled it in with color and space. Permanent Vacation is a rare treat--a New York New Wave film shot primarily out of doors, by someone with an obvious love of and talent for filmmaking and, well, an eye for music--playing with scales and variations much as the film's musician in residence, John Lurie (Lounge Lizards), does with his sax. Jim Jarmusch comments:
“Permanent Vacation is a narrative which follows two and a half days in the life of Aloysious Parker, a young wanderer with no home, no school, and no job. He has lived in all kinds of situations and with many different people--almost all of them exiles from the daily, working world....
“The main character is partially based on the actor portraying him (Chris Parker), whose real life situation is very similar to that of Aloysious--a name Chris chose for the part.... The film attempts to merge re-created experiences with imagined ones, placing the camera somewhere in the netherworld between documentary and theatrical (neo-realism in color?).
“The music for the film is treated Javanese gamelan, and in certain sequences is mixed with solo saxophone improvisations done for the film by John Lurie. Its hypnotic effect is very important in regard to the tone and the themes of the film.
“It is important to mention that Nicholas Ray died the day before our production began, and the film is unofficially dedicated to his memory. Before his death I had studied with Nick and was his teaching assistant.... I hope that Nick Ray's influence is somewhere visible in Permanent Vacation.”