Local indie director John Covert always swings for the fences: early in this black-and-white feature his character stands against a screen as the words “Francois Truffaut” and “The 400 Blows” are projected onto him. To his credit, this 2000 drama captures some of the New Wave’s restless spirit and existential melancholy with its seedy story of a former film teacher who lands a job minding the surveillance cameras at a north-side whorehouse. The comical but psychotic pimp running the joint (John Harriman) has been using the videotapes to blackmail his customers—logic isn’t the film’s strong point—and ultimately his scheme endangers the vacant 13-year-old boy in his care (Kyle Kuhs), who for some reason is doted upon by Covert and the ladies of the house. Leah Gale, Nicole Wilder, and Katie Maringer give sharp and seductive performances as working girls, and Mick Napier of the Annoyance theater group has a pretty funny bit as a legendary porn producer. 100 min.
