Peneflix MOVIE REVIEWS BY PENEFLIX
Commencing immediately there is a poetic, romantic poignancy pulsating at its lyrical core; in a myriad of ways reminiscent of the golden years of the Ziegfeld Follies and the 1936 “The Great Ziegfeld”, a time of spectacle, grandeur, an age where a woman was sensationally adored for her beauty, poise and kickable acuity. Those were the days when the dreariest, darkest depressive times were temporarily erased by dazzling, glittering, feathered costumes, stunning audiences with a show, beyond the propagative imagination, an unattainable vision, a fantasy never to be realized but touchable ephemerality, if only for an inestimable moment in time. The Showgirl has not died, through the ages she has been transformed: “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994); Guy Pearce is smashing as “Adam” one of the “queens”; 1978 “La Cage aux Folles”, all stereotypical flamboyancies, banished when on stage.
In Palm Springs, California the Fabulous Palm Spring Follies from 1990-2014 captured the aura of the 1930’s with showgirls over 55, dotage not recognized but celebrated. Director Gia Coppola (granddaughter of Francis Ford Coppola) and actor Pamela Anderson bless viewers with a portrait of innocence, naivety glory and loss, “Shelly” for thirty years has performed in a Las Vegas cabaret; her love of her craft is palatable, genuine, she is ageless when striding on a stage, whose better nights have long sunk in decrepitude; devastation looms as the final performance materializes; estranged from her daughter, her cluelessness is painful, crippling; she is a flawed but loveable, wingless creature; her closest friend “Annette” (Jamie Lee Curtis, is unstoppable, and gobbles every pulverizing scene) is a deficient anchor, but omnipresent.
“The Last Showgirl” is a sad allegory, longing for what was, never to be repeated; acceptance is the road to meaningfulness, doffing regrets, finding a new way to fulfilment, contentment.
FOUR STARS!!!!
Peneflix
