Beware of the film that features a symbolic white horse! Even if it is the work of as fine a director as Andrzej Wajda (Lotna) or Ivan Passer (A Boring Afternoon), that snowy steed inevitably spells trouble: Something pretentious is afoot, or ahoof. There is a white horse—tethered, no less—in Mona Lisa, too; and, sure enough, this third picture by Neil Jordan, the Irish novelist and cineast, is no exception to the rule.
This is the story of George, a petty criminal who took a seven-year prison rap for his chief, Mortwell, now a big boss in the prostitution and pornography rackets, with a little blackmail, it seems, on the side. George is rewarded with the soft job of acting as chauffeur and cover for Simone, a high-toned and high-priced black call-girl who, like George, works for Mort-well. It is also the story of Simone, who is desperately searching for a close friend from her streetwalker days, Cathy, a 15-year-old hooker hooked on heroin, from whom she has become separated, and whom she asks George to track down for her.
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