乞丐奇Menkes’ spellbinding, formally inventive first feature follows detached sex worker Ida (Tinka Menkes) through the bars, flophouses and swimming pools of East Los Angeles as she moves inextricably towards an unexpected spiritual awakening. Blending poetry by Anne Sexton, Mary Daly and Gertrude Stein, with allusions to Catholicism and mediaeval witch hunts, this stylish and slow-burning psycho-noir builds to a spectacular denouement.