Themes: Down on Their Luck, Interracial/Cross-Cultural Romance, Fish Out of Water
Main Cast: Liev Schreiber, Parker Posey, Omar Townsend, Sasha von Scherler, Guillermo Diaz, Anthony de Sando
Release Year: 1995
Country: US
Run Time: 98 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
The debut feature from director Daisy von Scherler Mayer, Party Girl pretty much cemented Parker Posey's status as the indie-film "it girl" of the 1990s. Posey stars as Mary, a fun-loving and irresponsible twentysomething New Yorker who prefers throwing bashes at her loft to pay the rent over getting a real job. But when one of her shindigs gets broken up by the cops, Mary lands in the slammer and is forced to enlist the help of her librarian godmother, Judy (Sasha von Scherler, the director's mother). In order to prove that she's not the layabout she seems to be, Mary begins working at the library with Judy. Party Girl was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival and was later turned into a short-lived Fox sitcom. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
Review
Daisy von Scherler Mayer's ode to a '90s Holly Golightly is a pleasantly lightweight, if forgettable diversion. Indie film queen Parker Posey stars as the kind of self-indulgent, club-hopping diva who would show up for the opening of a dry cleaners. When her funds begin to run perilously low, she reluctantly takes a job in a library, with a boss who's not impressed by her partying skills. Although the film seems to be intended as sort of morality tale "lite," the script is so underwritten and the director's point-of-view so uncertain, that it comes across only as a series of disjointed, albeit occasionally funny episodes. Posey's arch comic style is entertaining for a time, but like the character, eventually becomes tiresome. Anthony DeSando as a gay friend and Omar Townsend as a falafel salesman whom Posey briefly adores, are both good, contributing a touch of humanity the film would otherwise lack. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide
Party Girl (1995), directed by Daisy von Scherler Mayer, is notable as the first commercial comedy-drama feature film shown in its entirety on the Internet.
Scripted by Mayer with Harry Birckmayer and Sheila Gaffney, the storyline follows the misadventures of free-spirited Mary (Parker Posey) on her self-destructive path of drugs and parties. Arrested for illegally charging attendees at an underground rave, she calls upon her godmother, Judy Lindendorf (Sasha von Scherler), to bail her out. So Mary can repay the loan, Judy employs her as a clerk at the library where she works. Mary reluctantly begins her new job while striking up a romance with Lebanese street vendor Mustafa (Omar Townsend). The other men in her life are her gay friend Derrick (Anthony DeSando) and Leo (Guillermo Díaz), a DJ in clubs. Things begin to fall apart when she loses her library job and is evicted from her apartment. In the end, Mary decides to study to become a librarian herself but without compromising her own sense of style and happiness. Others in the cast are Donna Mitchell, as the club owner and Liev Schreiber. Liev Schreiber's character proposes to Mary so that he can keep his visa, allowing him to remain in the country. Lady Bunny makes a cameo during the opening credits, outside of Mary's house party.
The Internet premiere happened on June 3, 1995, transmitted from Glenn Fleishman's Point of Presence Company (POPCO). Appearing live in the POPCO offices, Parker Posey welcomed Internet viewers and then introduced the film. Fleishman recalled the event:
I helped launch the first official full-length movie premiere in 1995 in my offices in Seattle. The film was broadcast to several hundred people worldwide over a CUSeeMe reflector at Point of Presence Company's offices in downtown and then a few minutes, it was projected at The Egyptian in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood. Parker Posey was in our offices to hit the start button on the broadcast. I was one cog in a larger set of wheels that involved the Seattle International Film Festival, Film.com (now part of Real Networks), First Look Releasing, and the film's producers, as well as another online development company and a CUSeeMe consultant who also worked for the government down in Texas. The launch was shown on NBC Nightly News in a five-minute segment on the bottom of the Sunday broadcast that week.[1][2]
The event was recalled by Quinn:
I met up with Lucy Mohl on my Grand American Tour of 1995. I had spent the previous three weeks trekking around the states and finally arrived, dazed and confused, in Seattle. I landed on the doorstep of Adam and Tonya Engst, creators of TidBITS, who put me up for the night. No sooner had I settled down when they informed me that we'd be out for the evening, visiting Glenn Fleishman, who had some strange event happening that night. We arrived at Glenn's offices to find the place jam packed with people, including a full TV crew! Anyway, we spent a very enjoyable evening there, totally failing to watch the first live broadcast of a film over the Internet (via CU-SeeMe) and instead spent most of the time talking to Lucy about her pet project, film.com.[3]
