Public Speaking

Martin Scorsese’s documentary makes clear how Fran Lebowitz both lives in and embodies New York City. Not only is she repeatedly pictured on sidewalks, in her favorite West Village restaurant (the Waverly Inn), or driving her 1978 Checker cab, but she also performs an attitude associated with the city. Sardonic, impatient, and incisive, she explains here how she came to her art — writing — as this is a function of her worldview. As a cabdriver, she says, she worked just enough to “hang out.” She goes on, “It’s very important for getting ideas or thinking new things, sitting in bars, smoking cigarettes: that’s the history of art.”

See PopMatters‘ review.