Boulevard (1994 film)

Plot

The film is about a woman named Jennefer (played by Kari Wuhrer) who runs from her abusive boyfriend, gives her baby up for adoption and takes the next bus out of town. She ends up on the streets during a grim and cold winter in Toronto. She's taken in by a prostitute named Ola (played by Rae Dawn Chong). Ola sees the local pimp Hassan (Lou Diamond Phillips) murder another prostitute, but refuses to testify against him, knowing that Hassan has associates that would kill her if she snitched. A police officer named McClaren (Lance Henriksen) attempts to interrogate her,and when she refuses to talk she is deported. Ola eventually makes her way back to Toronto, and Jennefer greets her with relief. Feeling bad for not having found a job to help repay Ola's kindness, Jennefer becomes a prostitute with Ola taking her under her wing to learn the ropes. Jennefer is later confronted by her boyfriend,who has tracked her down with the intent of killing her for leaving him and putting their baby up for adoption behind his back. She eventually breaks free briefly and shoots him in self defense, then abandoning his body in his car in a local alley. While this had been going on Ola, convinced that Hassan had taken Jennefer and was forcing her to work for him and harm her like the rest of his girls, takes her gun and goes over to Hassan's house and demands to know where Jennefer is. Hassan tells her he doesn't have her, and after a verbal altercation, Ola is beaten violently by Hassan and left to die on the riverbank. Jennefer returns to Ola's apartment looking for her after having killed her boyfriend, but Ola isn't there and nobody else seems to know where she is until one of Hassan's girls Sheila admits that she saw everything and that Ola is in the hospital near death. Jennefer rushes to Ola's side where she finds Ola seeming to be comatose. She vows revenge and takes her gun to confront Hassan for what he did to Ola. She shoots him several times and stops short of killing him and leaves the scene. Hassan is then arrested shortly after by McClaren. Jennefer returns to Ola's bedside and tells her she got revenge and that Ola can't die because she loves her. Suddenly Ola opens her eyes to look at Jennefer, seeming to be awake and Jennefer is hopeful. But then her heart monitor signals that her heartbeat flatlined and she dies. The movie ends with Jennefer packing up some keepsakes of Ola and getting on a bus for some unknown destination.

Cast

Reception

Allmovie critic Sandra Brennan gave the film 1½ stars out of 5.