From the Ghettoblaster Magazine
Crazy Horse
Dir. Frederick Wiseman
2*/5*
I once attended an art exhibition of two couples performing sex acts in a SoHo gallery.
While I suppose they may have been having fun it was dull to watch. I feel much the
same way seeing Wiseman’s documentary homage to the high-end burlesque club that
lends the film its name. For over two hours Wiseman focuses his vérité lens on the
exacting choreography and technical work behind the stage and the nude women on it.
He seems to be celebrating it, but from an audience perspective the act wears thin.
Perhaps it may have helped to get to know the dancers and other people involved in the
production a bit better but the whole thing just seems kinda cheesy and it is tiring in the
way professional wrestling matches get boring. One relative bright spot is an extremely
exuberant artistic consultant who has seen the revue many times as a fan and considers it
art of the highest achievement and not just “a place for Japanese tourists.” Perhaps Crazy
Horse elevates the strip club as a cultural form, but not by much.
– Zachary Barowitz