Kailey (Famke Janssen) is getting on 40, living in an upstate limbo, driving to NYC for clandestine meetings with the 12-year-old that son her ex-stepmom tries to keep from her. She's undesirable because she lives off poker and trolling money games at Rip Torn's underlit, underpopulated pool hall (its drabness accentuated by a sludgy 16mm transfer). When a woman fills a traditionally male role, you're bound to find strange frictions -- scenes around the pool table are fraught as each pocketed ball impacts the egos involved, the tactile threat of imperiled manhood a constant undertone. While buying the freshly exfoliated Janssen as a beer-battered hard case requires suspended disbelief, her low-key treatment beats the ostentatious frowsing-down that's usually counterfeited for range when a beautiful woman plays "against type."
To read the rest of this review, visit Village Voice:
Comments