DVD Release: Limelight

DVD Release Date: Jan. 24, 2012
Price: DVD $26.98
Studio: Magnolia

The 2011 documentary film Limelight chronicles the career of Peter Gatien, the undisputed king of the 1980s New York club scene and owner of such famed Gotham hotspots as Limelight, Tunnel, Palladium and Club USA.

At the pinnacle of Gatien’s success, thousands of partygoers lined up each night outside the doors of his venues hoping for entry. Influencing such future icons as Madonna, The Beastie Boys and Moby, Gatien’s clubs engendered such influential musical genres as pop, punk, techno and acid house.

But Gatien’s phenomenal success put his venues on the radar of New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s infamous crackdown on drugs and crime in the 1990s, and Gatien and his clubs soon became law enforcement’s number one target. Years of legal battles and police pressure spearheaded by Giuliani led to Gatien’s eventual deportation to Canada and the shuttering of his glitzy kingdom.

Along with the requisite archival footage, Limelight features interviews with insiders including Gatien himself, Moby, the founding member of the notorious “Club Kids” Michael Alig and additional key informants in Gatien’s high-profile trial.

The documentary received a limited release to theaters in New York in September 2011, following its premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival earlier in the year. The reviews weren’t all that positive, and certainly not as kind as those director Billy Corben received for his 2006 Miami-based documentary Cocaine Cowboys.

Here’s the trailer, an undeniably energetic one:

Buy or Rent Limelight
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