Slideshow
SHAKEDOWN
U.S., 2018
Directed by Leilah Weinraub
With Aiisha Ferguson as Egypt, Jamie Thomas as Jazmyne, Sha’ron Harris as Ronnie-Ron, Mahogany Wilson
Approx. 70 min. DCP.
“THIS IS A LESBIAN CLUB. UNDERSTAND. COMPREHEND.” Leilah Weinraub's radical and intimate debut documentary feature explores early-aughts Los Angeles through the eponymous underground Black-Lesbian strip club. Following a mélange of figures of the scene–from beloved performers, Egypt and Jazmyne, to the club’s stud proprietor Ronnie-Ron: “If you're not gon' tip and you straight, you don't need to be in the front”— until the night Shakedown is shut down by the LAPD.
Reviews
“SHAKEDOWN—MAKES SPACE FOR ITSELF.”
– The New Yorker
“A documentary that both PornHub and the Criterion Channel could get behind.”
– Lisa Kennedy, Variety
“The sexy performances, nuanced worker inquiries, and noir score also tell a story about labor conditions, intimate-yet-vexed relations, unlawful dreams, and the limits of documentary, all through a cast of brilliant personalities including emcee, Ronnie-Ron, and star, “Shakedown Angel” Egypt.”
– Tiana Reid, SSENSE
“Through the grainy, steadfast lens of Weinraub’s camera (a constant presence in the club for six continuous years) and a deft, dizzy score by Tim DeWit, we find ourselves at the provocative intersection of community, eroticism and work. These sometimes uneasy bedfellows find their visual manifestation in the film’s most dazzling aesthetic coup: the repurposing of pixelated DIY club flyers as dazzling cinematic spectacles — proud, arousing and ephemeral all at once.”
– Sight and Sound