Search - Lost In the Pershing Point Hotel on DVD

Jordan's autobiographical fantasia

W. Oliver | Alabama | 04/11/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Leslie Jordan, the talented pint-sized actor who makes frequent hilarious guest spots on "Will & Grace," wrote this autographical tale which was formally produced as an off-Broadway play. How much of it is true-to-life would be interesting to know but suffice to say, he was come a long way since the depressing drug-hazed disco 70s in which most of the action takes place.



The film starts out with The Storyteller (Jordan) being loaded into an ambulance and then telling his story to the Almighty in an all-white purgatory. Beginning with some quite hilarious scenes of his childhood, in which he shocks his religious fanatical parents with his confessions of being gay, he lives with them until his late 30s and then flees to Atlanta, the "gay mecca" that he has read about in magazines. Arriving at the seedy Pershing Point Hotel, he immediately makes friends with an ostracized debutante whom he christens "Miss Make-Do." Miss Make-Do (Erin Chandler in a terrific natural performance) is a drug addict who works as a go-go dancer and sometimes hooker to finance her drug habit.



Miss Make-Do and our hero eventually have a falling out and he then hooks up with a straight bad boy named Tripper (excellently played by Mark Pellegrino). Their platonic and depressing relationship, living in the dire straits of a basement, showcases some of the film's best writing and most earnest scenes. Back in purgatory, Jordan cuts loose with some penetrating comments on the nature of God and being gay.



Shot on a small budget, the film nevertheless sports a professional look and the cinematographer has diffused many of the 70s scenes with green and red hues that illustrate the seediness of the situation. The supporting players are as fine as the leading actors. John Ritter appears as a minister in one of the film's early scenes. Kathy Kinney has a brief but funny sequence in a doctor's waiting room and Sheryl Lee Ralph is hilarious as a holy-roller nurse.



An interesting film but not all that entertaining, fans of Leslie Jordan might want to take a look at it. Unfortuately there are no extras and a commentary by Jordan is really needed."

"I want to be accepted for who I am"

M. J Leonard | Silver Lake, Los Angeles, CA United States | 04/29/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Lost in the Pershing Point Hotel is a low budget independent movie that raises some serious and rather interesting issues about faith, belief, and the value of life. And while the execution is sometimes shoddy, the narrative overly didactic, and the message sometimes too preachy, the film has an honesty, and integrity that makes for a quite involving 100 minutes or so. The story, originally from a stage play, tells of one gay man's upbringing and hardships growing up in the South. The film concentrates on his life during the heady days of the 1970's where he gets involved in the Atlanta party scene and the underground gay drug culture.



After a drug overdose, the main protagonist, (Leslie Jordan) known as the storyteller narratives this rather sad, reflective story just as he's preparing to meet God. He tells us that he grew up in an oppressive Southern Baptist Household where homosexuality was considered a moral evil, and where one must sublimate one's desires to the greater glory of God. In order to cope, he spends years renouncing sex, until at the ripe old age of forty, where, styling himself as type of a Lilliputian dandy à la Truman Capote, he leaves his sheltered home for the bright lights of Atlanta.





Upon arriving in the big city he meets debutante refugee and drug connoisseur Miss Make-Do (Erin Chandler) who introduces him to the wonderful world of chemicals and the film's ostensible hotel Pershing Point, a low-rent Chelsea-like dive full of addicts, drag queens, and gangsters. After his benefactress kicks him out for taking up with a thuggish coke dealer, the wretched foppish protagonist finds another protector in Tripper, a roughneck junkie, ex-con, and pimp. The two form a weird platonic and dependent relationship that eventually spirals into an opiate oblivion.



Much of the film looks as though it was filmed on a sound stage, with the action bathed in hues of gold, blue and red; from the outset the film has a theatrical and overly dramatic quality that actually works well with the contentious subject matter. Anyone who is familiar with the gay, inner city party scene will immediately be familiar with many of the scenarios. The storyteller and Miss Make-Do swallow pills like candy and snort endless lines of coke, until of course, their addled lifestyle catches up with them.



Written by Jordan and purportedly based on his own life experiences, the film's themes will probably strike at the heart of any gay man who has ever had a crisis of faith, or has left a small hick town for life in the big city. Jordan is surprisingly good in the lead role, and he manages to combine a mixture of dandified foppishness with middle-aged cragginess to great effect.



The supporting cast is also terrific, with Chandler doing a great job of playing a coke addled, spoilt little rich girl. Watch out for the scene when they both overdose on MDA while shopping in a second clothes shop - it's horrific in its implications, but it's also a riot. Lost in the Pershing Point Hotel could have been about 20 minutes shorter - the pace becomes a little labored towards the end, and Jordan places a little too much emphasis on his crisis of faith, but I think the movie will appeal to those who like their movies somewhat edgy, alternative, and underground. Mike Leonard April 05.

"

Good but not Leslie Jordan's best work...

W. A Mynatt | Knoxville, TN United States | 07/12/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I think this was supposed to be autobiographical but it was very hard to follow. It had it's funny moments and it's poignant moments and if you are a fan of his, it is probably worth watching. It is mostly a slice of life thing, though, so do not expect any redemption or resolution."