White Wall Cinema: AMERICAN GIGOLO

Living in his minimalist Los Angeles apartment (before minimalism was even a thing) Julian Kaye (Gere) is the embodiment of cultivated taste: impeccably dressed, fluent in several languages, and devoted to the finer things in life. A high-class escort Julian finances his lavish lifestyle catering to a roster of wealthy women, and cultivates a carefully maintained sense of  emotional detachment. But when he begins a relationship with the wife of a powerful senator and is framed for a murder he did not commit, his meticulously controlled world begins to unravel.

Slick yet substantive, director Paul Schrader never allows the high design and neon glow of the 1980s to overshadow the film’s European art-house sensibility or the moral gravity of its subject. Sophisticated and coolly detached yet charged with undercurrents of passion, American Gigolo is a tautly restrained melodrama and is one of the defining films of its era as well as an enduring icon of 80s style. Beautifully restored in 4K for the first time, it remains a ravishing work that radiates understated opulence from every frame and demands big screen viewing.

• DOORS: 7.10pm*
• START TIME: 7.40pm*
• RUN TIME: 117 mins
• CERT: 18

*Please note – doors open at 7.10pm, Please try to allow extra time to get seated prior to the performance start time of 7.40pm. There will usually be no admittance from 20 minutes after the films stated start time. No hot food or alcohol from outside the premises is allowed. All alcoholic drinks consumed on the premises must be purchased from the bar as per the conditions of the venue’s licence