Variety
United States
1983
100 Min
Color
1.77:1
English
Synopsis
In Bette Gordon’s pioneering indie narrative about voyeurism from a female perspective, a young woman (Sandy McLeod) works as a ticket taker in a porn theater, and her curiosity leads her to shadow a male patron. This film features an unparalleled collaborative team of downtown artists from the early 1980s, including composer John Lurie, cinematographer Tom DiCillo, writer Kathy Acker, photographer Nan Goldin, and actor Spalding Gray. Variety was shot on location in New York City at the now bygone landmarks of the Variety Theatre, Fulton Fish Market, and Yankee Stadium, as well as an edgier incarnation of Times Square. –Tribeca Film Festival
Director
Bette Gordon
Bette Gordon is a New York-based filmmaker best known for her feminist-oriented independent films. She began her career while enrolled as a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin at Madison in collaboration with her former husband James Benning. At that time all of her films were experimental. Gordon continued making experimental films when she served as a professor at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. She moved to New York in 1979. A year later Gordon created Empty Suitcases, a psychodrama combined with avant-garde elements. —Wikipedia
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Brotherdeacon
17Feb12
Bit of a "who's who" of 80's loft space talent in this project. Maybe it didn't fire on all cylinders, but just to see so many new (at that time) film/art/fiction/music people putting their shoulders to the wheel is worthy of note.
Rachel Michelle
8May11
Watching this on Netflix streaming right now... The color is awesome and I just realized that the script was written by Kathy Acker!
Natalie Guevara
26Jul10
A gender-reversal noir: mousy girl intrigued by seedy '80s Times Square porn universe, goes to the Fulton Fish Market (!) to investigate. Pornography as formidable self-expression. Slow & steady movie; really interesting to see the old, pre-Midwestern mom infested Times Square and young, broke Luis Guzman. Lead actress is so horrible she's charming; it's like, why didn't they hire Scooby Doo & The Mystery Team?
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Bette Gordon, Full Frame, CPH:PIX, More
By David Hudson on April 15, 2011
Caught up as we might be in all the hoopla over the Cannes lineup, we shouldn't overlook several other festivals and events either already
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VARIETY
By Marcus WP on April 25, 2011
Bette Gordon’s ‘Variety’, a movie that i missed at a one-time only screening at anthology film archives last week, is currently my favorite movie at the moment, no matter what other critics have said… read review
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