Bette Gordon’s fascinating 1983 film about a woman working in an adult movie theatre has a script by Kathy Acker and parts for Nan Goldin and Spalding Gray
The 1983 indie-underground New York movie Variety, directed by Bette Gordon and scripted by Kathy Acker, is re-released for its 40-year anniversary. It is a flawed but fascinating critique of the male gaze, the porn gaze, and the luxurious ordeal of guilty voyeurism. Gordon casts a female lead, flipping gender assumptions and turning the tables on the underworld quest-torments of Paul Schrader’s male heroes in the likes of Taxi Driver and Hardcore. Perhaps she was inspired by the mysterious inner life of the listless young woman played by Diahnne Abbott in Taxi Driver, working behind the porn-cinema concessions counter, irritated by Travis Bickle’s inquiries about what candy she has: “What you see is what we got.”
Actor and film-maker Sandy McLeod plays Christine,...
The 1983 indie-underground New York movie Variety, directed by Bette Gordon and scripted by Kathy Acker, is re-released for its 40-year anniversary. It is a flawed but fascinating critique of the male gaze, the porn gaze, and the luxurious ordeal of guilty voyeurism. Gordon casts a female lead, flipping gender assumptions and turning the tables on the underworld quest-torments of Paul Schrader’s male heroes in the likes of Taxi Driver and Hardcore. Perhaps she was inspired by the mysterious inner life of the listless young woman played by Diahnne Abbott in Taxi Driver, working behind the porn-cinema concessions counter, irritated by Travis Bickle’s inquiries about what candy she has: “What you see is what we got.”
Actor and film-maker Sandy McLeod plays Christine,...
- 8/8/2023
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
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