Marianne Faithful stars as Maggie, a desperate widow willing to do whatever it takes to save her grandson’s life. The little boy has only weeks to live, unless he can fly to Australia to receive experimental treatment.
His parents are broke and Maggie has already sold her house to help pay the medical bills. With no job or skills and banks refusing to lend her money, Maggie has no choice but to accept a job as a 'hostess" in a Soho strip club. And so Irina Palm takes a colourful turn leading the audience into the seedy world of prostitution.
I really liked the originality of the story"¦ a grandma masturbating men might not be to everyone’s taste but the filmmaker Sam Garbarski handles it with a lot of grace and care.
It highlights a world that does exist and is not necessarily all doom and gloom. There’s a good mix of pathos and comedy here.
As the film progresses Maggie actually come to life. Faithful puts in a good job. And the relationship between her and the club owner Miki is well depicted. Manojlovic is really wonderful as Miki. I loved the absurdity of this seedy man being so impressed with the softness of Maggie’s hands.
I did feel some of the performances were a little forced and the ending felt a little too neat. But the irony of Marianne Faithful – quintessential rock goddess of Soho - now playing a middle age hostess of the area, is not lost on us!
On the whole good stuff"¦ I am giving it 3 stars.
