Hefty helping of hooker fun in N.Y.C.
First there was the film Concussion, about a bored housewife in a sexless lesbian marriage who turns to same-sex prostitution to stimulate herself.
And now, in a lighter vein, comes the feature-length comedy about lesbian hookers, The Foxy Merkins, which premieres at BAMcinemaFest 2014.
You could be forgiven for thinking that Sapphic prostitution is the hot topic of the season! Not to mention merkins…
Just after a sold-out run at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, The Foxy Merkins, will premier in New York City on June 27th at BAMcinemaFest.
The film follows Margaret, a down on her luck, asthmatic lesbian hooker-in-training, who meets Jo, a beautiful grifter from a wealthy family who is an expert on picking up women, even as she considers herself a card-carrying heterosexual. The duo hit the streets where they encounter bargain-hunting housewives, double-dealing conservative women and each other, in this raucous female buddy comedy.
If anyone is unaware of the “merkins” part of the title of the film, a “merkin” relates to a toupee for your womanhood, basically an artificial patch of pubic hair. We discover this meaning as we follow our protagonists through a cemetery where they encounter a merkin salesman. That scene alone should be reason enough to check this film out to better understand the drive and meaning behind the merkins flare.
The comedy writers/performers, Lisa Haas and Madeleine Olnek, have worked in Downtown NYC venues doing original theatre for years. Once on the festival circuit with their previous film (Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same) they started to feel a bit like hookers, and Madeleine had always wanted to make an homage to and parody of iconic male hustler films, so they started production on The Foxy Merkins.
Aaron Hills of THE VILLAGE VOICE names The Foxy Merkins at BAMcinemaFest part of “Ten Reasons to Spend Your Summer in a Movie Theatre.”
Helen Eisenbach of THE HUFFINGTON POST calls The Foxy Merkins “Odd, poignant, both profane and strangely innocent, and above all, shockingly funny … a comic bonanza of mind games, sexual stereotypes and unexpected love.”