CFDBNYC Out and About

The Queen Of Manhattan which is a biopic of sorts. It follows the story of legendary adult film icon Vanessa Del Rio from the 70s to the early eighties. By using Times Square as the backdrop for the illegal activities that took place in that era, the film gives the viewer a look at how the industry and the people who got into it were controlled. Drugs were rampant. Sex was lawless and unregulated also this was during the height of the AIDS epidemic. No tests. No evaluation just sex on film and everyone got paid. Featuring Esai Morales, Drea de Matteo and Vivian Lamolli as Vanessa Del Rio, the film starts from her days being a streetwalker and almost getting arrested for doing so into going to her boss who uses Vanessa and her friend to be in short films. Director Thomas Mignone who work on Vanessa’s story for several years got the opportunity to distribute and finish the film and to us it was worth it. Everything about Queen Of Manhattan is consistent with the period from the language to the clothing to even the city life. Watching it puts you in a time warp and makes you think how people continue to have reckless sex lives during the AIDS epidemic especially with no screening. We watch Vanessa go through several emotions throughout the movie and each emotion we see Vivian gets better with her performance. Several of the Sopranos cast are scattered throughout the film and each one shows they still the chops to go another round in the iconic series. David Proval who played Richie in the Sopranos is a focal point in Queen where it’s his money financing all the porn that Manhattan produces. From there Drea is his right hand who keeps the girls in check and sees that they paid but as we see in the film she do have a breaking point. Another great performance is Taryn Manning who seems to have the strung out white girl role down to a science. She fits her role well and even gives the movie a soft touch with her carefree ways of living even though she gets beating up during it. Another role played by Shane West is well played due to the time period. A gay man who is effected by the early AIDS epidemic and trying to take down crime that he sees fit. He definitely give the film a sense of urgency because every scene he’s in you think it’s a race against him losing his boyfriend. The script was really heavy on 80s news clippings since you see organized crime running rampant and police never having control of the area so federal law enforcement comes in. It seem cliche at first but you realize it is needed when the directors of porn are being intimidating by their bosses. The Queen of Manhattan is a interesting take on what it looks and feel like in New York City in 1980 and it’s refreshing given the main character backstory. Mignone definitely manage to get Vanessa’s story out here and did a great job in bringing old fans and connoisseurs alike to revisit the wild seventies and eighties while remembering one of porn’s earliest superstars.