Review: Boulevard

Kari Wuhrer plays a young woman who has fled an abusive partner, given up her baby for adoption, and gets the hell outta town. She ends up lonely on the streets of freezing Toronto. However, a street-wise hooker named Ola (Rae Dawn Chong) takes her under her wing, and helps her stay away from the clutches of sleazy, manipulative pimp Hassan (Lou Diamond Phillips). Eventually a bond forms between the two women. Meanwhile, tough cop McClaren (Lance Henriksen) hounds Ola for information about a murder she saw Hassan commit, but Ola’s keeping her lips zipped for fear of Hassan’s wrath. Also, Wuhrer’s abusive ex is on the lookout for her.

The story goes: Back when video/DVD rental stores were still a thing, I used to go to the video/DVD store a few times a year and get 10 ‘weeklys’ (older movies, not new releases) for $10. It’s probably the main thing that started me on this journey to being a film reviewer/movie lover. One day back in I think 1998 or so, I mistakenly came home with this greatly underrated 1994 direct-to-video flick from director Penelope Buitenhuis (who has mostly done TV movies since) and screenwriter Andrea Wilde (her only film credit to date, strangely enough. Variety claims actress Chong wrote it, but I’ve got zero evidence of that, including IMDb). Yes, I rented it by mistake. I assume I meant to pick up “Bound” (I was getting older and seeking out R-rated movies as one does when young and just barely of age), and picked this one up instead. I’d never heard of it. It turned out to be a good mistake, because not only did it feature the Sapphic material I was probably looking to get out of “Bound” anyway, but it’s a pretty solid, if lumpy and very depressing film.

The mixture of over-the-top exploitation movie theatrics from a supremely sleazy Lou Diamond Phillips don’t really mesh with the harsh, gritty vibe of the rest of the film, but it sure does make for an interesting watch nonetheless if you can handle the sometimes grim tone of it all. As the posturing, manipulative and volatile pimp Hassan, Phillips isn’t remotely subtle but it’s one of his most entertaining and memorable performances to date. He’s flashy and theatrical, the film is gritty and sad. It shouldn’t come off anywhere near as well as it does, but indeed it does. He might remind you at times of the grandstanding, rather unscrupulous lead characters in blaxploitation classics “Superfly” and “Willie Dynamite”, only a lot nastier. On the other end of the tonal scale we have 90s sex siren Kari Wuhrer in her best and most ambitious performance probably to date as the damaged runaway turned hooker. She’s a helluva long way from her cornball turn in “Beastmaster II: Through the Portal of Time”, that’s for sure and a really strong, sympathetic protagonist. Rae Dawn Chong got most of the critical notices for this film, but it’s actually her performance that for me is just a tad overdone. The phony wig and streetwalkin’ sass are just a little too overstated and ‘Cliché movie hooker’ to me. Still, she’s got good chemistry with Wuhrer and has some good moments when she takes off the wig and scrubs off the makeup. He doesn’t get a lot of screen time nor much of a character to chew on, but veteran Lance Henriksen is rock-solid as the tough-as-nails cop who doesn’t back down to Hassan’s macho posturing one bit. It’s actually quite funny to see this one guy who isn’t remotely afraid of the otherwise dangerous pimp.

Even if Phillips is a bit OTT, the filmmakers do a rather good job here of painting a very dangerous milieu for these women to be inhabiting. You get the feeling the streets at night are filled with all manner of sleazy-types and dangerous people that make you fear for the women’s lives. Phillips’ Hassan is one of the more dangerous elements out there on those streets. Chong’s character is there to look out for Wuhrer, but take out her protection and where does that leave poor Wuhrer? It’s actually a very good script Wilde has written in that respect.

Unpleasant, slightly wonky of tone, but a well-acted and gritty drama with a Sapphic romantic angle to boot. It’s the dangerous depiction of nightlife on the streets combined with the love story that really help get this one over the line, along with a terrific performance by Kari Wuhrer. The ending is a punch in the guts, and some may not wish to take the journey at all. It’s a pretty well-made film though, and worthy of a recommendation to those who can handle it. It deserves to be much more well-known and widely seen. Shame it has the look of a made-for-TV Canadian flick, however.

Rating: B-