After Hours: The Nightlife, Neuroses, and Surrealism of 1980s Manhattan

By Tim Madsen

After Hours: The Nightlife, Neuroses, and Surrealism of 1980s Manhattan is a deep, illuminating exploration of Martin Scorsese's strangest and most underrated film. Blending film criticism, cultural history, and psychological analysis, this book dissects After Hours as a cinematic fever dream set in a city teetering between decay and reinvention.

Across ten focused chapters, the book unpacks the themes, aesthetics, and cultural currents that pulse through the film's surreal narrative. From the haunting portrayal of SoHo's downtown art scene to the existential anxiety of its hapless protagonist, Paul Hackett, this study explores how After Hours channels the madness of the modern city, the instability of identity, and the absurdity of trying to make sense of it all.

With references to Kafka, Bu uel, Beckett, and the postmodern urban condition, this is more than just film analysis-it's a portrait of a moment in time, when New York at night became a metaphor for psychological breakdown and artistic rebellion.

For cinephiles, Scorsese enthusiasts, and cultural historians alike, After Hours: The Nightlife, Neuroses, and Surrealism of 1980s Manhattan offers a richly detailed, endlessly readable dive into one of the most unusual and enduring cult films of the American cinematic canon.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0FL86JGSY
• ISBN13: 9798296609861
• Release Date: August 2025
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 36 Pages
• Weight: 0.24 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.1" x 8.5" x 11.0"