Variety: 1983
by Bette Gordon
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Actor: Luis Guzman, Nan Goldin, Sandy McLeod, Spalding Gray, Will PattonDirector: Bette Gordon
Brand: Kino International
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 97 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-05-20
Audience Rating: Unrated
Model: 6072
Studio: KINO INTERNATIONAL
DVD Reviews of Variety: 1983
DVD Review: Feminist Masterpiece
Summary: 5 Stars
VARIETY is a riveting and brilliant movie. The movie starts with the protagonist, Christine, swimming laps in a pool. We see her supple body and athletic strength as she swims, and her flat stomach in her red and white striped swimsuit. As the camera comes in very close, Christine herself disappears, and all that is left is her candy-striped swimsuit moving through the water. Next, she speaks to a friend in the locker room while the girls get dressed. The entire shot is played in a static wide two-shot in the mirror, as they look at themselves and each other. The camera has strategically failed so far to capture these women as objects of a voyeuristic gaze, even though they are wearing skimpy garments such as a bathing suit, form-fitting tights, and a bra. It becomes clear that we are witnessing something different than what we are used to, which is scantily clad young women filmed with no erotic intent. And we feel struck by the oddness of that, although it's a locker room sequence that any woman would find very natural in real life. It's already clear, in just these two short sequences, that this is a film that will question who is looking, what the camera records, and the nature of cinematic voyeurism.
But for all that, it is never didactic, dry, or dull. The film is highly entertaining and well-paced throughout as it details the Christine's journey into the world of sexual desire through her discovery of pornography. Getting a job as a ticket-taker in a porn theater, she becomes curious about the men who frequent the theater and about what they consume, and herself becomes a voyeur to their world and to one man in particular, whom she stalks. Bette Gordon has constructed a character who is watched and also watches, and through Christine details the nature of pornography, which is all about longing which is never fulfilled except through the act of looking (a metaphor for all cinema). The world that's created is a world in reverse of how most movies construct desire and looking, a world in which men are threatened when women engage in their own sexual looking and express their own desires (the men in the film are threatened by Christine, and the male cinema audience is potentially threatened by Bette Gordon, who expresses desire by making this film). It's refreshing to see such reversals, especially when it's all done so playfully and with so much humor. It's quite funny to see Christine, who looks like she could be a professional porn star, follow a middle-aged man with the tenacity of a man stalking a Playboy bunny.
I found it to be an erotic movie as well, especially in terms of how it captured the hot and heavy atmosphere of 42nd St. in the early '80s, and also how it captured the erotic imagination of Christine, who at times is almost overbrimming with the excesses of her own fantasy life that the pornographic screen images have inspired. Other New York landscapes and people are also beautifully and expertly rendered, especially the scenes in the bar with the girls chatting, the scene at Yankee Stadium during a game, the scenes of the subway, and the scenes at the fish market. Any lover of cinema verité is sure to be astonished by the sheer craft of this film, not to mention the engaging and natural acting from all of the cast.
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Description of Variety: 1983
The sexually charged tale of a woman s journey of self-discovery, Bette Gordon s Variety is a fascinating independent film that challenges common notions about feminism and pornography. Emerging out of the underground NYC arts scene that produced the late 80s boom in American independent cinema, Variety contains the contributions of an impresive array of talent, including cinematographer Tom DiCillo (Living in Oblivion), actor Luis Guzmán (Boogie Nights), a script by the late cult novelist Kathy Acker, and a score by actor and musician John Lurie (Stranger Than Paradise, Down By Law). Christine (Sandy McLeod), a bright and unassuming young woman, takes a job selling tickets at a porno theater near Times Square. Instead of distancing herself from the dark and erotic nature of this milieu, Christine soon develops an obsession that begins to consume her life. The character s reaction unexpectedly flips normal gender roles; director Gordon daringly twists feminist ideology by showing a woman who finds self-expression through an interest in pornography. Variety becomes even more provocative when it dramatizes the changes that occur in Christine s relationships with both Mark (Will Patton), her boyfriend, and Louie, a dangerous-looking patron of the theater. Few films deal honestly with a female s sexual point-of-view, and particularly with the way in which she develops her own fantasy world. Controversial and highly personal, Variety does just that, and in so doing announces itself as the major film of a director who embodies the essence of independent cinema.Bestsellers in DVD
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