Variety (18*)

Part of: The Grime and the Glamour season

,Barbican Cinema 3
Variety theater in Bette Gordon's Variety

Explore the seedy side of Manhattan through a very female perspective, with Bette Gordon's take on the adult cinemas of 1970s NYC. 

Emerging from the creative community on New York's Lower East Side at the beginning of the 1980s, this fearless exploration of female erotic fantasy tells the story of a Midwest girl who takes a job at the ticket booth of the Variety porn cinema off Times Square

Working at the cinema, Christine (Sandy McLeod) becomes caught up in a subculture of desire – increasingly obsessed by pornography, and drawn into the life of a shady male patron of the cinema. 

Directed by Bette Gordon, with contributions from other downtown scenesters such as John Lurie, Tom di Cillo, Nan Goldin, Spalding Gray, Luis Guzman and Cookie Mueller, Variety also functions as remarkable time capsule of New York City, showing such bygone landmarks as the Variety Theatre, Fulton Fish Market and Yankee Stadium, as well as a pre-cleaned-up Times Square. 

Cinema The Grime and the Glamour 35mm

US 1984 Dir Bette Gordon 97 min, 35mm presentation

Please arrive promptly at the advertised start time

Proof of ID may be requested on entry to films, in compliance with BBFC rating

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