Stella Does Tricks

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Stella Does Tricks ★★ 1996

Stella (Macdonald) is a teen runaway, working as a prostitute in London for pimp Mr. Peters (Bolam). She was abused by her dad (Stewart) and has revenge fantasies—some of which she takes out on clients, which leads to punishment by her boss. She briefly gets free of Peters and gets a legit job, but Stella has also become involved with junkie Eddie (Matheson) and his drug needs have him betraying Stella. No Cinderella stories here— Stella's life is bleak and violent, with Macdonald giving a powerhouse performance. 97m/C VHS, DVD . GB Kelly Macdonald, James Bolam, Ewan Stewart, Hans Matheson, Andy Serkis, Paul Chahidi; D: Coky Giedroyc; W: A.L. Kennedy; C: Barry Ackroyd; M: Nick Bicat.