Creativity and time have a funny relationship. When you allow yourself to stand on the fertile ground of artistic progress, you become wrapped in a cocoon of euphoria — whether painting a canvas, singing, or dancing. For those moments, you are weightless and fulfilling a purpose others may not understand. But you don’t make art for the simple meaning of perception; you do it for love only you can describe. Over time, things begin to poke holes in that space — responsibility, capitalism, societal expectations, and contempt for art eat away youthful exuberance. Reality then seeps into your utopia, and the question is, “Was this all worth it?”
In Gia Coppola’s “The Last Showgirl,” Shelly Gardner (Pamela Anderson) has stayed inside the romanticized view of the life she’s always wanted in Las Vegas. For thirty years, she’s been a lead showgirl in “Le Razzle Dazzle,” the last show on the strip. In its heyday, there were international tours, the performers were treated like movie stars, and Shelly was right at the forefront of it all. “Le Razzle Dazzle” is not just a cabaret show with nudity and bedazzled costumes. To Shelly, it’s a classic Sin City institution mixing dance with a sense of regality. Looking at things from the outside, how could you blame her? In a place known for the high rollers, fast movers, and bright lights, Shelly was queen on the stage in a way where it mattered to her the most.
Sometimes, we don’t get to say when the fairy tale ride ends or if it will be a soft landing. Coppola’s film hones in on what we do when the end comes for something we aren’t necessarily ready to part with. Shelly and her friends/co-workers Jodie (Kiernan Shipka) and Mary-Anne (Brenda Song) frantically get their costumes right in their dressing room before taking the stage before the night’s show. It might be a bit cumbersome, given how the show’s flow is of another forego era…