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The Man Who Sued Nude Girls
Nov. 16th, 2003 09:51 pmTonight's first movie was The Man Who Sued God, at the AFI. The premise is that a fisherman's boat is destroyed by lightning, and the insurance company refuses to pay because it was an "act of God". Everyone tells him that he can't possibly win a lawsuit against the insurance company, so he sues God instead. You have to stretch your disbelief past its normal breaking point or simply accept that we're in an alternate universe where this lawsuit wouldn't be thrown out of court within five minutes, but if you manage that there are some very nice character bits in this story. The fisherman is loud-mouthed, profane, and frequently drunk and disorderly, but he also dearly loves his daughter, who adores him, and has a charming way with words, as when he enunciates the word com-pre-hen-sive in a meeting with his insurance agent. The 42-year-old love interest has enough wrinkles to actually appear 42, and the courtroom scenes are mostly not stupid. I wouldn't say this is destined to be a classic, but it was good clean fun.
After I got home I quickly became tired of proofing and cropping images, and decided to watch a DVD. Live Nude Girls Unite is a documentary about a strip club in San Francisco whose workers voted to unionize, and their efforts to win a union contract. It works both as a look at the conditions in their workplace, and as an example of a labor struggle. The director is also a stand-up comic and an employee of the Lusty Ladies strip club where much of the action takes place, and clips of her routine help keep the film moving at a lively pace. Her co-workers are generally articulate and well-educated (much smarter than their customers, certainly) and give a good account of themselves. There is one agonizing emotional train-wreck sequence where she "comes out" to her mother on camera (not, not, not a good idea), but most of the movie is upbeat and even playful. Their picket line was marked by such chants as, "Two, four, six, eight, don't come here to masturbate!", and the negotiating committee wryly deconstructs the patronizing assumptions behind the management lawyers' language and tactics. Enjoyable, educational, not for small children.
After I got home I quickly became tired of proofing and cropping images, and decided to watch a DVD. Live Nude Girls Unite is a documentary about a strip club in San Francisco whose workers voted to unionize, and their efforts to win a union contract. It works both as a look at the conditions in their workplace, and as an example of a labor struggle. The director is also a stand-up comic and an employee of the Lusty Ladies strip club where much of the action takes place, and clips of her routine help keep the film moving at a lively pace. Her co-workers are generally articulate and well-educated (much smarter than their customers, certainly) and give a good account of themselves. There is one agonizing emotional train-wreck sequence where she "comes out" to her mother on camera (not, not, not a good idea), but most of the movie is upbeat and even playful. Their picket line was marked by such chants as, "Two, four, six, eight, don't come here to masturbate!", and the negotiating committee wryly deconstructs the patronizing assumptions behind the management lawyers' language and tactics. Enjoyable, educational, not for small children.
