Shut-Eye

The employees of a mob owned strip club decide they want out, and plan a big heist. Of course, things go wrong. This is the seventh film by local Chicago director John Covert--and not the person named as director above--who also stars as Ed. Shot in video, sometimes there is a grainy look and feel to this that reminds me a Godard's Alphaville. The sour atmosphere of the strip club is heightened by the players continual use of drugs and sex as means to unseen, unarticulated and mindless, (but as far as the plot goes, not meaningless) sex. The video obsessions of the techie/janitor at the club are unnervingly funny and the old burlesque adage, "what you see is what you get" is blown-up, distorted and parsed out in interesting and sleazy ways. With luck, this film will get decent distribution, and Covert's work will be more than a moderately well kept Chicago secret.