Directed by Bette Gordon • 1983 • United States
Starring Sandy McLeod, Will Patton, Richard M. Davidson
The provocative, sexually charged tale of a woman’s journey of self-discovery, Bette Gordon’s independent landmark offers a bold challenge to conventional notions of feminism and pornography. Emerging out of New York City’s 1980s artistic underground, VARIETY follows Christine (Sandy McLeod), a bright and unassuming young woman who takes a job selling tickets at a porno theater near Times Square. Instead of distancing herself from the dark and erotic nature of her new milieu, Christine soon develops an obsession that begins to consume her life. Featuring contributions from a variety of counterculture luminaries—including cult novelist Kathy Acker, who cowrote the script; musician John Lurie; and photographer Nan Goldin—VARIETY remains revolutionary in its fearless exploration of erotic fantasy from a woman’s point of view.
Up Next in Times Square
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God Told Me To
Directed by Larry Cohen • 1976 • United States
Starring Tony Lo Bianco, Deborah Raffin, Sandy DennisA rooftop sniper guns down fourteen pedestrians on the streets of New York City. A mild-mannered dad takes a shotgun and blows away his wife and children. A cop goes on a sudden shooting spree at...
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King of New York
Directed by Abel Ferrara • 1990 • United States
Starring Christopher Walken, Laurence Fishburne, David CarusoRenegade director Abel Ferrara—working in collaboration with his regular screenwriter Nicholas St. John—brings his murky moral worldview and eye for pulp imagery to this kinetic, stylish...
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The Gods of Times Square
Directed by Richard Sandler • 1999 • United States
Over the course of six years, street photographer and filmmaker Richard Sandler documents the Giuliani-era transformation of Manhattan’s Times Square, as mom-and-pop stores and the colorful characters who made the intersection a “speakers’ corne...
