Always For Pleasure

New Orleans. Sin City. Where unabashed hedonism is not a concept, but a way of life. The joys of food, the rhythms of music, and the celebration of sensuality find their supreme expression in the Mardi Gras festival. It's a time when people can have their carpe diem, and eat it too. As always, the characters that Blank uncovers are jewels in the rough: "Kid" Thomas Valentine, who tells people he's a hundred years old--and they believe him; or "Blue Lu" Barker, who got lost during a parade once, and now observes from the safety of her domicile. The first half of the film focuses on a jazz funeral, which composer Allen Touissaint explains is a long-standing tradition. The second half looks at a black community's celebration of Mardi Gras: working class blacks don Native Indian garb, and pow-wow down. Each year the hand-sewn garments are taken apart, and reassembled the following year at "great personal expense." These are people who take their fun seriously. Always for Pleasure is a boisterous tour of one of the most famous parties in town (New Orleans, or any other). Recommended. (Available from: Flower Films, 10341 San Pablo Ave, El Cerrito, CA 94530).