Bret Easton Ellis and Abel Ferrara

Bret Easton Ellis’s new book, White—his first in nearly a decade and first non-fiction ever—is about many things but what interests me most at the moment is not solely his views on the current political climate, millennial culture or even an artist’s duty to speak his or her mind no matter what the repercussion, but movies. His brilliant way of making me want to revisit certain titillating films from the ’70s and ’80s that are gritty, unflinching and very sexy, is what I’m mostly interested in at the moment. The way he speaks of an un-coddled youth where movies were the gateway to exotic, adult worlds reminds me of why I have been besotted with films my entire life. Take a cue from Ellis and watch Paul Schrader’s 1980 American Gigolo for the first or tenth time simply to ogle Richard Gere as the high-end prostitute, Julian Kaye dressed impeccably from head to toe in Armani suits, in nothing but underwear and gravity boots or, in one scene, nothing at all but shadows.

The Museum of Modern Art is having a retrospective of Abel Ferrara’s work throughout the month of May and, who better to compare with the personality of Ellis than Ferrara. Both incredibly edgy in their respective fields, Ellis and Ferrara have explored the underworlds of New York: think of Ellis’s 1991 novel American Psycho that was adapted into the Mary Harron film of the same name with the gorgeous Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman or Abel Ferrara’s Bad Lieutenant (1992) and King of New York (1990). Ellis also muses on films of the late 1970s that deal with the sexual revolution and, sadly, the repercussions such as 1977’s Looking for Mr. Goodbar (also starring Richard Gere). Diane Keaton portrays a young, single school teacher living in New York City: she’s sexually active in a time before AIDS when casual sex was the norm and is looking for Mr. Right. We see Keaton in a way we have rarely seen her since: sexualized and unapologetically in search of sexual gratification.

Harvey Keitel’s portrayal of a corrupt cop in Bad Lieutenant is beyond fascinating and gives its viewers a glimpse into depraved behavior that is best left on screen (such as shooting out car radios when he loses a gambling bet, visiting drug dens and oddly erotic, drunken sex scenes that include lesbians, voyeurism and a fully nude Keitel screeching in despair). Walken (in King of New York) plays a sort-of vampiric drug lord called Frank White who has just been released from prison and, while dressed in all black, cuts a mean dance move (Walken is an exceptional dancer). He leads us into the underbelly of cinematic crime (but not before an incredibly erotic scene in a subway car complete with French kisses and glimpses of Janet Julian’s beautiful breasts). Don’t forget to revisit Ferrara’s 1981 exploitation film Ms. 45 starring Zoë Tamerlis as a resplendently beautiful but tortured (and mute) gun-toting vigilante who disguises herself in a nun’s habit and plenty of bright red lipstick as she avenges wronged women.