When the seven-year-old Joey is cruelly tricked into believing he killed his older brother, he flees to New York’s nether wonderland: Coney Island. Upon and beneath the crowded boardwalk, Joey experiences a day and night filled with adventures and mysteries.

If you think America’s indie film scene began with John Cassavetes’ Shadows, think again. Five years earlier, this microbudgeted marvel took to the streets of NYC to forge a vivid time capsule out of enterprise and courage. A work of thrilling immediacy, it’s one of the great films about childhood.