Peepshow

Philippe Soine, better known as actor than helmer, emerges at the top of Marc Dorcel's talent list behind the camera with this well-made feature as well as "Prostitution" and "19 Years Young Escort Girl".

It follows the semi-documentary style of "Prostitution" relying heavily on narration as a first-person camera wanders through an amusement arcade complex as if Martin Scorsese in his overly showy "Goodfellas" mode were turning to porn. That's what he would do in my universe, but instead he continues to make vastly overrated mainstream movies that I suppose already has the squares out their thinking of him as the greatest filmmaker of all time (he wouldn't make it into my Top 4000).

The six vignettes are not merely arousing but quite novel in content, partially due to the realism (within an already stylized hothouse setting) of Soine's "You are there!" style. Isabella Clark, who was brilliant in his earlier "Protitution" is terrific again, and some of my current favorites Cathy Heaven and Samantha Bentley are great as usual. There's a through-put storyline involving heroine Dorothy and mysterious Diego (played by Mike Angelo), but the film is enjoyable as separate vignettes too.

Soine, perhaps via his acting background, has a knack for combining glamor with seediness, perfectly appropriate to this feature's low-down subject matter, and I'm going to be watching his future efforts closely.