The Best Old Movies on a Big Screen This Week: NYC Repertory Cinema Picks, March 15-21
Whores’ Glory (2011)
Directed by Michael Glawogger
Whores’ Glory is a non-judgmental, eye-level representation of prostitution that gives a voice to those practicing the oldest profession. This is no standard talking heads doc, although that stylistic choice is both used and transcended. Rather, the late, great Glawogger (gone too soon at the age of 55 from malaria) presents the work and the workers as a triptych, globe-hopping across the world to three red light districts with a thriving market: the irreal neon glow of Bangkok, Thailand parlors; labyrinthine corridors in Faridpur, Bangladesh; and a Mexican border town, Reynosa, seemingly made up of bars, motels, and brothels. DP Wolfgang Thaler (this is his film as much as it is Glawogger’s) captures luxuriant shots, saturated with color and grain, and that either scans spaces or captures hookers in portraits. And filling out the soundtrack are ultra-chill tunes by CocoRosie, PJ Harvey, Tricky, and more. Tanner Tafelski (March 17, 7:30pm; March 23, 10pm at the Spectacle’s “Tricks of the Trade: True/False Portraits of Sex Work”)