Queen of Diamonds

Subversive feminist filmmaker Nina Menkes has recently enjoyed newfound critical recognition for her groundbreaking body of work. Widely hailed as a feminist masterpiece, Queen of Diamonds stars sister Tinka Menkes (a regular presence in her films) as a disaffected Las Vegas blackjack dealer whose life unfolds in a series of often-surreal encounters framed by the bleak desert landscape and glittering lights of the strip. Next to impossible to see for years, this haunting study of female alienation is often compared to Chantal Akerman’s 1975 masterpiece Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles. (77 mins., 4K DCP)