Hookers at the Point

This is a documentary about street prostitution in one New York neighbourhood, a worm's eye view of selling sex at the bottom end of the market, not that there is a top end. The team talk to a number of prostitutes and others including a man who married one and acts as her pimp.

As might be expected, this is all very sordid, but the film-makers are non-judgmental. The same cannot be said for the women, who are revisited. One was hoping to retire soon, but the best laid plans of the worst laid...

If the men behind the camera are non-judgmental, the women are not, including about their own lives. As might be expected, most have their hard luck stories, which tend to be drugs, but there is none of the rubbish that often accompanies these sorts of exposés about being forced into the oldest profession by traffickers or progressing from child abuse.

This documentary may leave a bad taste in your mouth, but you can take comfort from the fact that the women facing the camera have tasted far worse.

This definitely shows the reality of this profession – and it certainly isn't glamorous - far from it. They do it for the money, in most cases to support their drug habits. Sadly, once they have started in this line of work they cannot extricate themselves from it. We only get glimpses of their pimps and their customers, but we certainly get a lot of revealing conversational tidbits from the women themselves.

Be warned this is a graphic film and its' rather sobering to say the least. Doing ten tricks a night is not a fun time. I wish all these films that glorify this profession ("Pretty Woman" comes to mind) would have this film as mandatory viewing after. One does ponder as to who are the clients of these women – and why?? That is not the role of this film, but it does boggle!