Queen of Diamonds

Nina Menkes’ underground classic is a fiercely feminist character study set in a neon-soaked Las Vegas.

Nina Menkes’ best-known work is this underground cult classic, an existential character study following a disaffected blackjack dealer (Tinka Menkes), whose husband is missing, as she goes about her daily life in a neon-soaked Las Vegas. Like Barbara Loden’s Wanda, Menkes’ film offers a fiercely feminist vision of passivity as an act of defiance. Bold and beautiful, Queen of Diamonds pulses with a strange dreamlike atmosphere.