|  | Style: Drama
Director: Lizzie Borden
Main Cast: Louise Smith (Molly), Deborah Banks (Diane), Liz Caldwell (Liz), Marusia Zach (Gina), Amanda Goodwin (Dawn), Janne K. Peters (April), Boomer Tibbs (Bob), Eli Hasson (Voice of Hasid), Tony Whiting (Voice of Gina's Client), Richard Davidson (Jerry), Ronald Willoughby (John), Paul Slimak (Jay), Fred Neumann (Fantasy Fred), Patience Pierce (Kathy), Ellen McElduff (Lucy), Grant Wheaton (Robert)
|
The Working Girls in this New York-based film are laboring away at the World's Oldest Profession. Molly, a Yale grad who lives with her lesbian lover, turns tricks to keep food on the table. She approaches each day with fear and loathing, carrying out her responsibilities with crisp, businesslike efficiency. Her co-workers include Gina, who hopes to stay a hooker just long enough to finance her own business, and Dawn, an outspoken college student who harbors dreams of becoming a lawyer. The film covers a single day in the lives of these three ladies, neither judging nor apologizing: a job's a job, the film seems to be saying, whether it's punching a clock or rolling in the sack with an elderly stranger. Director Lizzie Borden's matter-of-fact approach to her material (based on six months' worth of interviewing genuine prostitutes) places Working Girls head and shoulders above the usual lachrymose "ladies of the evening" drama.
One of the more honest looks at the "oldest profession in the world," Working Girls is not a sophisticated film in any sense of the word. The camerawork may appear amateurish and unprofessional, but the documentary style gives one the impression of being a fly on the wall of a Manhattan brothel for a day. Director Lizzie Borden does not pardon or sensationalize the idea of prostitution but rather shows us an intimate account into the life of a "working girl." "Working" is the operative word here as we are shown that that is exactly what prostitution is to these woman. Borden does not make excuses for the profession, depicting it simply as a job like any other within a capitalist economy. The unknown actresses are contribute to the documentary feel. Working Girls is a film that leaves us not sympathetic towards prostitution per se, but demystifying the work, rendering it almost mundane. |
Links:
- IMDb |
|
|
