Alexa

My review was written in May 1989 after watching the movie on Academy video cassette.

"Alexa" is an ambitious but unsatisfying character study of a Gotham prostitute; it's scheduled as a summer home video release.

Unlike the courtroom/psychoanalytic approach of the play and subsequent film "Nuts", filmmakers Sean Delgado and Peggy Bruen take a behavioral approach that creates initial interest in the plight of high-priced call girl Alexa (Canadian actress Christine Moore), but is nullified by a misjudged melodramatic final reel.

After eight years hooking, Alexa is pondering whether to retire and take up best buddy Ruth Collins' offer to open a restaurant together Key plot catalyst is young playwright Kirk Baily interviewing her for a show he's writing about prostitution. Alexa falls in love with him but her nasty pimp (Joseph P. Giardina) intervenes with fatal results.

Moore, a Jacqueline Bisset-type beauty who's been impressive in a series of east coast thrillers, plays it mean here, creating a central figure that's nearly as unsympathetic as the male cast. With no one to root for, the film is hurting, and the cemetery finale leads to bathos. Emphasis on Baily's play proves an empty device since it's never enacted on screen.

Baily remain a cipher in his lead role, seen only from Alexa's perspective. Collins does her reliable sidekick part, and Frank Zappa-esque Giardina is briefly scary as the violent hustler. Tech credits are inconsistent (several key scenes, including a prolog, are shot silent with poor post-synch while others use direct sound), but Gregory Alper's moody jazz score is a plus.