Flesh (U.S., 1968, Paul Morrissey) — Joe Dallesandro plays a bisexual sex worker forced by his wife to go out and make some money to pay for her girlfriend’s abortion. Joe then meets a series of eccentric clients, including an artist who wishes to draw him, as well as a gymnast. The film includes near-documentary scenes of Dallesandro interacting with his real-life brother and son who was one year old at the time. Though seemingly provocative in plot, the film captures the sexual boredom and ennui that was a trademark of the Warhol Factory brand. Released a year before its Hollywood analog, Midnight Cowboy, Flesh offers an underground and campy depiction of sex work and its rather uneventful quotidian realities.
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The fall series will showcase rarely exhibited films that took art-house audiences of New York City and West Berlin by storm during the period of 1968-1989. Based on archival research, this series looks at what audiences at the time were watching and how it formed their thinking on the politics of sex and gender. Program notes based on the films' exhibition histories in NYC and West Berlin will be provided at each screening.
Free and open to the public
Parking $3 in Core West Parking Structure