Carolyn Cavallero's film Paradise Club evokes the 1960s era through incense and psychedelic music. Most of this film's memory looks and sounds like it was told by someone who was on drugs, confused, or too young to understand what was going on, which tells you all you need to know about the 60s.
Catherine (Elizabeth Rice), a young nude dancer at Paradise Club, is the fictional stand-in for Cavallero. She seems to be solemnly reading from a diary and expresses her desire to join her generation in its quest for freedom and enlightenment. She does this primarily by dancing naked in front of strangers and contemplating beat poetry and unrestricted prose.
Two other dancers, Tabitha (Tonya Kay) and Tulsa (Nicole Fox) round out the group. Tabitha is a strong, bold young woman, while Tulsa is a young girl who easily lets bad influences affect her. They’re employed at the club, which is a nudist establishment similar to those depicted in cinematic fantasies, where men come to gaze upon their favorite girls in awe as they dance slowly to the latest top hits.
Here, they can escape the chaos of the outside world and focus on their little dramas and personal traumas in the sanctuary of the club. Tulsa, understandably upset by the presence of the soldiers in the club, has an anti-war breakdown in front of the crowd and cries while giving the soldiers the peace sign. The club's paternalistic owner, Earl Wild (Eric Roberts), oversees all of this action because the establishment serves as his haven from the outside world.
Many characters either engage in sexual self-degradation, seek solace in harmful substances, or betray one another. There are a lot of extended montages set to period music that show this. Many extended sequences of nude dancing are depicted here to demonstrate the characters' inner states. There are times when this approach succeeds, but there are also times when it seems too open-ended and self-centered. Nude-girl fans will, of course, have nothing negative to say.
Earl is played by Eric Roberts, who is consistently fantastic. Evan Williams plays Ben, the arrogant pretty-boy rocker who threatens to steal Catherine away from Earl because she is in love with him, perfectly bland and spaced out. Production-wise, the film is solid, and it feels like the authentically late 1960s. It is an interesting watch and can be something you sit down to when you are feeling nostalgic about the days gone.
What public library shelves would this title be on?
Paradise Club belongs on the drama shelves of public libraries. Anyone who’s into drama and the conflicts of the 1960s will find it a thrilling watch.