Per Netflix, the limited documentary series’ synopsis reads: Fran Lebowitz knows what she likes — and what she doesn’t like. And she won’t wait for an invitation to tell you. For decades, the critic and essayist has been expressing her opinions, sometimes grouchily, always riotously. A New Yorker to the core, Lebowitz has raised straight talk to an art form, packaging her no-nonsense observations about the city and its denizens into a punchy running commentary, one that spares nobody. Shaping Lebowitz’s thoughts into the furiously funny guidebook every New Yorker has at one point wished for, “Pretend It’s a City” checks in with a classic urban voice on subjects ranging from tourists, money, subways, and the arts to the not-so-simple act of walking in Times Square. (There is a right way to do it.) Along the way, Lebowitz’s own past comes into focus: a life marked by constant curiosity and invigorating independence.
Lebowitz and Scorsese, the latter of whom appears in several of the documentary’s scenes, serve as executive producers alongside David Tedeschi, Ted Griffin, Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Joshua Porter, and Margaret Bodde. “Pretend It’s a City” marks the second major Scorsese-Lebowitz collaboration. Scorsese previously directed the 2010 HBO documentary film “Public Speaking,” which included a variety of clips of Lebowitz’s interviews and speaking engagements. Lebowitz, a longtime friend of Scorsese and American social critic who published bestselling books such as “Metropolitan Life” and “Social Studies,” had a cameo in the director’s 2013 “The Wolf of Wall Street.” Scorsese’s last film, “The Irishman,” premiered on Netflix in 2019. “Pretend It’s a City” marks the filmmaker’s second film for the streaming service. The director’s next major feature, “Killers of the Flower Moon,” which stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, is slated to premiere on Apple TV+. Scorsese inked a first-look deal with Apple earlier in the year. Check out the trailer for “Pretend It’s a City” below. The documentary is slated to premiere Friday, January 8, 2021 on Netflix.
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