Saturday, December 23, 2023

Variety (1983)

 Michigan transplant Sandy McLeod gets a job taking tickets at a 42nd Street porn theater called Variety. There she becomes increasingly obsessed with this new seemy world and a regular patron with possible mob connections (Richard N. Davidson), all to the growing concern of her investigative journalist boyfriend Will Patton. A young Luis Guzman has a supporting role, Spaulding Gray a voice cameo.

Probably the best known film by indie director Bette Gordan, the screenplay is by Kathy Acker, a former sex worker who became a Pushcart Award winning novelist. This film loves its long takes, which along with all of the shots of period New York City gives it a quasi documentary feel. This thing gets pretty tense. ***

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