Party Girl (1995)

★★★
There’s an iconic photograph of Audrey Hepburn’s Holly Golightly from Breakfast at Tiffany’s in the middle of a party. She stands still and smiles gleefully at the camera while revelers party on. The photo highlights the character’s position as the center of attention amidst the merrymaking. It is very likely that Holly didn’t know everyone around her. She was part of a scene, and she enjoyed it and thrived in it. It was a lifestyle. I thought about that photo as I watched Party Girl, featuring Parker Posey as a free spirit who throws raves and charges a fee so that she can pay the rent. Parker Posey—the Queen of the Indies who adorned video store shelves with a steady supply of movies throughout the ‘90s. By the end of the decade, she had starred in dozens of movies, most of which played at art houses, where she made her mark.

Mary (Posey) has no job and no reliable income stream. Her parties are her only source of funds. That ends when the police shut down her latest bash and put her in jail. She asks her godmother Judy (Sasha Von Scherler) to bail her out. Judy agrees but lectures her on her inability to find direction in her life. As a form of repayment, Judy drafts Mary to work as a clerk in her library. Mary hates the idea and doesn’t get along with her fellow employees, but she begrudgingly accepts. Her social life continues unabated. Her roommate is Leo (Guillermo Díaz), a D.J. who gives a hilarious audition to play at a club because he misunderstood the interview’s directions. There is also Liev Schreiber as Nigel, a bouncer who appears at many of the same parties as Mary. Also featured are many personalities from the Manhattan nightlife scene, giving the movie an aura of authenticity in its depiction of Generation X young adults from this part of the city.

Mary meets a falafel vendor named Mustafa (Omar Townsend, in his only movie). She’s interested in his Lebanese background and tries to learn some of his language, which leads to a date that doesn’t go as planned, largely due to Mary’s airheaded nature. Back at the library, she gradually learns how the Dewey Decimal System works and tries to elevate her job performance. Judy is skeptical, often pointing out how much Mary’s mother lacked logic (she died in an automobile accident; D.W.I. was the cause). For every step forward, she takes two steps back, whether it’s leaving the windows open before a rainstorm or shouting at customers. Interestingly, Mary puts her newfound knowledge to good use, such as organizing Leo’s record collection and assisting Mustafa with his teaching application. She realizes that her partying ways must eventually end. How long can this continue?

The movie relies heavily on Parker Posey. It is her job to carry it, and she does so with her charming demeanor. This is really her show. She infuses Mary with humor and a good-natured attitude, but she also balances those traits with the fact that Mary is 24 years old, and with that the capacity to realize that she can’t maintain her current pace. A few things happen towards the end that wake her up. Both are the result of the well running dry. The honeymoon is almost over, so it’s time to get serious about the future. Mary comes to understand this, showing that she grew up a little bit.

Parker Posey’s title as the Queen of the Indies represents not just her involvement in many independent films but also an era. Only during the ‘90s could someone be anointed as such. While independent cinema has existed for a long time, it was really during the ‘90s that this form of expression exploded. The Sundance Film Festival started in the late ‘70s, but its ‘90s iterations unleashed a tidal wave of rising talent. It was a productive time, and Parker Posey had the opportunity to be involved with it and appear in a string of releases. She had no equal, though Sarah Polley’s run from 1994 to 1999 was pretty impressive. Party Girl is a fun little movie that was released during a special time when it was fulfilling to go to the movies and encounter a gem like this. Not to worry. There are plenty more gems in Posey’s filmography to uncover.

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