Staff Pick: Variety (35mm)

Minnie’s Staff Pick!

A young woman, Christine (Sandy McLeod), lands a job as a cashier at a downtown porno theater, and soon finds herself inexorably drawn towards what’s happening on the screen—as well as other troubling fantasies. Writes director Gordon: “Hitchcock has used the cool blonde before, always as the object of the male gaze and fantasy. But in this case the traditional male role is reversed; Christine becomes obsessed with watching and following a male client. She is the sleuth in a thriller whose terrain is the language of desire.” One of the great independent films of the 1980s, featuring a who’s who of the New York vanguard, including Nan Goldin, Luis Guzmán, Spalding Gray and, of course, Cookie, appearing as a magnificently tousled barfly. Shot with grubby flair by Tom DiCillo, with an aptly sleazy-sultry theme from John Lurie, and a screenplay courtesy of writer Kathy Acker.