From the era of President Ronald Reagan onward, life in the United States has been marked by one salient trend: the increasing Brazilification of society, where wealth is concentrated in a super-rich elite, while the underclass swells and the middle class shrinks.
Two films on release this week offer a look at the extremes of life on either end of this equation: "The Girlfriend Experience" follows a few days in the life of a high-priced call girl catering to brokers and other filthy rich Manhattanites who can afford her $2,000 an hour rates; "Sin Nombre" looks at a pair of Central American emigrants hopping freight trains up to the U.S. border, where they hope to cross illegally and start a new life.
"The Girlfriend Experience" is one of those quick and dirty art films (such as "Full Frontal" and "Schizopolis") that Steven Soderbergh knocks off between his higher profile star-studded "Ocean's Eleven" type of movies.