A slow close reading of Paul Verhoeven's Showgirls (1995). One shot per day.
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0005
That was quick! She barely did any waiting. Not my experience of hitchhiking. But Nomi gets quick results: She wants something? She will get it fast. The heroin fully established in the first seconds.
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0004
Beautiful shot to begin with. Even better leather jacket. We follow her, the truck wiping the frame offers a reveal of the landscape and then the face of Nomi. Effective blocking that tells the story quickly. She is a woman on the move.
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0003
Here we go. This is going to be an analysis of possibilities, of choices, and this is the first creative choice right here: Showgirls, the title in plural. In a beautiful font. I wonder if that is about the different aspects contained in Nomi, the multiverse within.
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0002
As is the business, Showgirls announces itself first as an industrial object: MGM's spectacle, United Artists' authorship. Studios above characters, money over dream.
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0001
Before Las Vegas, before Nomi, before the stage, there is the lion. Every spectacle needs an entrance. Showgirls: A Shot per Day begins with a roar.
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