The Moving Image Source Calendar is a selective international guide to retrospectives, screenings, festivals, and exhibitions.
Descriptions are drawn from the calendars of the presenting venues.
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Showgirls: It Doesn't Suck
June 14, 2014 at
Museum of the Moving Image
, New York
Dir. Paul Verhoeven. 1995, 128 mins. 35mm. With Elizabeth Berkley, Kyle MacLachlan, Gina Gershon. Nomi at MOMI! "Leave your inhibitions at the door" panted the ads for Verhoeven's NC-17 rated cause célèbre. Primed to pan pretty much anything the director did in the wake of Basic Instinct, most critics opted to leave their senses of humor behind. A deluxe nudity-filled update of the classic Hollywood musical, Showgirls features a sturdy veteran-versus-ingenue plotline (Verhoeven dubbed it "All About Evil"). Showgirls is not only better than its reputation (but then it would have to be) and more durable than its critics (some of whom have recanted): it stands, nearly 20 years on, as the last (dirty) word in the cinema du sleaze. Film critic Adam Nayman (Reverse Shot, CinemaScope), author of the new Pop Classics monograph It Doesn't Suck: Showgirls (2014, ECW Press) will introduce the screening. "His book definitely demonstrates that Showgirls is a coherent statement, and that its excess, its ridiculousness, and its tastelessness aren't arbitrary, but thematic." (The Atlantic). There will be a book signing in the Moving Image Store prior to the screening.
Related Articles:
It Doesn't Suck by Adam Nayman posted Jun. 11, 2014
