Pamela Anderson finds gold under glitter of Last Showgirl Winnipeg Free Press [Video]

A mood piece about age and obsolescence, The Last Showgirl is a slender 89-minute drama with a shimmery, delicate vibe. Centring on the dying days of an old-style Las Vegas revue, the story draws its poignance from Pamela Anderson’s tremendously tender lead performance.

The film opens with a brief flash forward — mercifully brief because it’s a dance audition, and Shelly (Anderson) is struggling. We immediately feel for her, and by the time we come around again to a fuller look at this scene, now realizing how and why Shelly is here, it’s even more devastating.

After that anxious glimpse of Shelly’s audition, we go back a few days, to an announcement by longtime stage manager Eddie (Guardians of the Galaxy’s Dave Bautista) that Le Razzle Dazzle, the show that has been Shelly’s professional home for over 30 years, will be shutting down in two weeks.

Scripter Kate Gersten, a TV writer making her feature-film debut, sets up a deliberately simple narrative timeline …