"Bordello"
Movie Review
'Bordello,' directed by Carlo Liconti and written by
Daniel Matmor, stars Kris Holden. Set in New Mexico in 1889, Ried as Enoch runs
a bordello with his five girls Esi, Tara, Ada, Precious, and Martha. There is
one other girl who lives there, Angel, played by Brooklyn Popp, who is seven
years old and has been looked after by them since her mother died.
It's 1889 in New Mexico. The gold rush has ended, and most
prospectors have moved on. A crumbling Antebellum mansion in the middle of
nowhere is a bordello that has seen better days. Enoch, the inept pimp, owes
the town's psychopathic Sheriff a large sum of money. Money is scarce, business
is sluggish, and the five women in the house are tearing each other apart. The
only thing they can agree on is Angel, a seven-year-old child whose mother died
during childbirth.
Despite his difficulties, Enoch has big dreams. He believes
there is gold in his backyard and, when he is not reading books about Alaska,
he spends his time digging and fantasizing about a better life there. When
Madame Gabi, a wealthy but evil brothel proprietress, pays him a visit, his
past creeps up on him. She offers Enoch a small fortune for Angel, but despite
his refusal, the women believe he has agreed to sell the child. Their fears are
verified when Enoch declares that they will all be moving to Alaska and that
their money issues are resolved. He does not, however, inform them of his
discovery of gold. Unaware of the reality, the ladies plan to kill Enoch so
they can escape and save Angel from a life of child prostitution. When the
psychotic Sheriff arrives demanding his money, miscommunications, gunplay, and
a heroic conclusion result.
Bordello begins with a sense of contained despair from
director Carlo Liconti and writer Daniel Matmor. Bordello works best when it
focuses on the interactions between the main characters. Despite being a
western, or at least set in the old west, it is primarily a drama, and a good
one. There's some levity sprinkled throughout, such as one of the girls' surprise
at discovering that a Jewish customer doesn't have a tail. It's amusing as well
as a timely reminder of how outrageous something can be and still be believed.
While it does tie up the film's various plot strands and
provide the majority of the action, Bordello's ending feels a little rushed. It
would have been more satisfying to let it play out over a few minutes. As it
stands, it feels abrupt, as if they suddenly ran out of money or time and had
to do a shortened version.
The cast does an excellent job of fleshing out the
characters, with Heidi von Palleske particularly standout as Ada, the oldest of
the bordello's working girls and a mother figure to some of them. As the
trigger-happy sheriff, Frank Zupancic is coldly menacing; he makes a good
antagonist, and I wouldn't mind seeing more of him.
The sets appear more aged and worn than the typical old-west
tourist traps used in low-budget horse operas. Ludek Bogner's cinematography
makes good use of the sets and gives them a convincingly naturalistic look. As
previously stated, there isn't much action, and the effects are limited to a
few brief CGI bullet hits. Bordello should satisfy viewers looking for
something different as long as they keep in mind that this is a western drama,
not a shoot ‘em-up.
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