Underplayed Gems

Stella Does Tricks (1996)

Stella Does Tricks poster
Directed by
Coky Giedroyc
Genre
drama film
Country
United Kingdom
Runtime
1h 39m
Rating
6.5 of 10 from 19 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

A young woman from Glasgow works as a prostitute in London. The film shows her struggle between wanting real connection and surviving exploitation.

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What happens

Stella Does Tricks is a 1996 British drama film about a young Glaswegian girl, played by Kelly Macdonald, working as a prostitute in London. The film was the first feature film directed by Coky Giedroyc, inspired by her previous work making documentaries about homeless people in Glasgow, Manchester, and London, and provided Macdonald with her first film role after Trainspotting. The film has been described as "an uncompromisingly feminist text, in which the Baby Doll turns Avenger", and by Lawrence van Gelder of The New York Times as a "bleak, perceptive portrait of the prostitute as a young girl torn between the need for genuine love and a career of sexual exploitation". Despite the film centering on the lives of female prostitutes, the only nudity in the film is male nudity. The screenplay was written by the novelist A. L. Kennedy, and draws in part on one of her earlier stories, Friday Payday. Cinematography was by frequent Ken Loach collaborator Barry Ackroyd. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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