Slaves Of New York, 1989

CAST: Bernadette Peters (Eleanor)

Golden Globe and Emmy winning actress best known for her work on Broadway.

with Adam Coleman Howard (Stash), Jsu Garcia (Marley), Madelaine Potter (Daria) & Steve Buschemi (Wilfredo)

PLOT: A young New York hat designer (Peters) is frustrated with her superficial life and her controlling artist boyfriend (Howard).

No sex, some nudity, no violence, some bad language, 15/R.

THOUGHTS: While it's pretty muddled and a bit overlong I found Slaves of New York to be a fun tribute to the New York art/club scene of the late 80's. Peters is excellent as the troubled but never down Eleanor and there is a great soundtrack to enjoy, not to mention some very interesting clothing on display courtesy of the late designer Stephen Sprouse. Eleanor's hats are quite something!

It was unfairly savaged by critics at the time and I think writer and co-star Tama Janowitz sums it up nicely in the featurette on the DVD when she says it's a period piece. Maybe the period was superficial and vacuous but I don't think anyone can doubt the historical accuracy of the movie. One thing I didn't like was the overlapping scenes and dialogue, that was certainly off-putting. It's one to rent.

CAN I BUY IT? Yes, on DVD.