Vanessa del Rio performed in over 200 films, not that you will find all of them on her IMDB page. Many consisted of ten-minute “loops” produced exclusively for the sex shops she sporadically worked at. It is at such a venue that writer/director Thomas Mignone tasks his lead actress Vivian Lamolli with a direct to camera commentary, revealing in one fell swoop both their limitations. For despite his many intriguing ideas and her undeniable screen presence, the execution from both falls short.

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“Sex worker. Slut. Whore. Stripper. Streetwalker.” After del Rio peels off her resume, Queen of Manhattan flashes back to her life before finding fame as an adult film star.  Alternating between two stages, the young del Rio is depicted as a child of parents in an abusive relationship who finds comfort in an imaginary Mexican wrestler. More time is dedicated to her life a sex worker, which Mignone uses to present a considered tableau of Times Square during the early 1980’s.

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With a cast of characters ranging from an aging mobster, a guileless sex worker and a gay cop whose partner is dying from AIDS, Queen of Manhattan is filled with recognisable faces that’ll have you constantly asking yourself, “isn’t that the guy from…?”.  Though many interior shots look like they were filmed in the same closet del Rio supposedly satisfied five men at once, Mignone’s inventiveness frequently compensates for the film’s low production values. His staging of action scenes however is less impressive.

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Despite his prominence in the credits, veteran actor Esai Morales has only a supporting role as del Rio’s father.​​​​