Queer Docs

It's just fab that there are any documentaries as revealing and close to its subjects as 'Paris Is Burning'. An obvious landmark for queer filmmaking, a paradigm examination of documentary subjects - footage of people emoting and expressing raw feelings. Beautiful

The director uses some cheap tactics to evoke the sympathy he wants: classical music, dark settings, leaving the camera run during awkward silences, zooming in on the subjects' faces when he notices his subject is disturbed, popping the AIDS question on every subject. And it doesn't work on me; I don't feel bad for these kids. All I can think is - wow Prague has got some hot dumb cheap young ass!

The subjects run the gamut from a 15 year old runaway with a gambling addiction to a 19 year old who has made prostitution a successful, comfortable, and safe career for himself. Too bad that when the director gets all these guys together for a party that he doesn't arrange for some intracommunity counseling between the smarter tricks and the reckless ones.

There's a couple explicit photos that attempt to be censored, but you can see everything. And compared to other documentaries on prostitution, the "bad stories" are not that bad. The worst is a masochist who whipped and beat a boy and then refused to pay. Most of the other tricks just moan about not liking anal, but that's like a fireman bitching about not wanting to go in burning buildings. One weather-worn trick talks about an era in which he was working at a cheap brothel and having nine clients a day slamming his ass - now THAT'S a legitimate complaint.

Like I said I don't feel bad for these guys; they all admit to doing it for the money and none who dislike the job discuss specifically why they cannot work or live elsewhere. It is alluded to when one of the subjects says that most of the guys spend the money they make at clubs on the same night they make it, and the 15 year old asks the film-maker on camera for a loan so he can gamble.

This isn't as depressing as the title would suggest, but conversely, it isn't as raunchy as one might hope. We have to wait until 35min to get the segment this film was required to include: montage of partying shots set to "I Wanna Take You to a Gay Bar".

Set throughout Northern Mississippi, this documentary examines gay life in the Southern Bible Belt of USA. The biggest question I have (which this film should have asked all of its subjects) has still not been asked: why the hell are these queers stickin around these shit places? Nearly everyone interviewed gets to bitch about widespread discrimination, but not a single one explains why they've decided to remain living in this oppressive environment. Seriously, not one person goes on about "Well, I still love it down here, raised here, my family's here," etc. But we do get the other side: Phelps discussing how "fags ruined the community" was his original "inspiration" for his widespread hate campaign. I wasn't aware that Phelps was broadcasting license plates of people who were "spotted at a gay establishment", but I'm not surprised by any of his tactics or beliefs as I've seen the American Family Association site before (and the Phelps freaks themselves at Decadence).

I think this film crew was not aggressive or planned enough with their interviews, and the result is an uninspired mashing of interviews. Perhaps important for the tiny gay community in Mississippi (all 100 of 'em) but I really can't see the relevance to gay culture in larger cities such as New Orleans where I live. Gay bashing ain't goin' nowhere, and there will always be a need for a community to aid people with "coming out", but the irking questions I had, like "how do queer people specifically deal and cope in pressure based small communities?" and "why the fuck don't they just leave?" were barely answered (the second question not at all).

Another movie I added. Great doc exploring the lives and thoughts of a range of transgender and transsexual people. As a documentary, very personal and artistically edited (for the better).

The synopsis for this is misleading. The director may be reaching for some sort of futuristic theme, but yet another director has no idea that being trans is not a new thing and not as interesting as everyone thinks it is, but that doesn't matter because she picked great people to interview: trans people who know how to avoid that exploitative bullshit and really reveal just their general thoughts on life with the trans thing as a sidenote, albeit a large one, which is how it is in real life.

I'm biased towards this doc, as it is the only film I've screened in weeks (and I average 5 movies per day) during which I did not briefly think or seriously consider "Yeah, I'll watch the rest of this later. Right now, I'm puttin on a porn and wanking instead". This doc had all the eye candy I needed to keep my complete mental attention, but that said, it is also an honest and illuminating examination of gay cruising scenes in the 70s up until the AIDS crisis. This is mostly a compilation of various interviews, and I can't recall any annoying overdone narration. This is an important document not just for gay men, but also anyone in human sexuality studies. And great asses abound ;D

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Very interesting piece about identity and how a family deals with situations that most of society deems "odd" or "too complicated". Biggest plus here is that Claire's transsexualism is not the sensationalized focus of the film as many of its loglines and synopsis report, but rather one more bit in a large patchwork of the subjects' past and current happenings, emotions, and the impact on their closest relationships. This film is centrally about personal identity and the twin dynamic than sexgender and sexuality, which is very refreshing for one like myself who has seen too many films play heavily on the trans component to gain notoriety.

A very fair and frank examination of this family's life, including some very moving and astounding interviews with the parents.

The only reason I didn't give this a 4 star rating is because it didn't have as much emotional bang (for me) as did many of the other documentaries I recommend and list on Top Docs. But it may be profound enough to warrant a four from you, so I must strongly recommend it if you seek a doc that films a modern American family.

It's not hard for this film to be brilliant. The camera just has to be running on these people, and then it is up to the makers to dig through the three years of footage to compile a coherent story.

All of them are young, introspective, resourceful, friendly, and full of potential. But they are also all very filled with sadness, in great despair, in ill health, in dangerous situations, and rarely happy because they are all addicted to heroin. It would not be surprising if a followup done today would reveal all the participants, or at least a majority, to now be dead of a drug-related cause. At the conclusion, two main subjects have AIDS and are not receiving treatment, and one of them is still prostituting despite a looming charge of attempted murder if charged again with prostitution.

Of course when dealing with this topic, the content will be saddening, but the factor that determines whether or not the film is good is if it is revealing. And this film does reveal in horrific detail the reality of junkie living. We see their battered bodies, bruises and burst blood vessels spotting their skin from frequent injection and dramatic weight losses from neglecting eating for fixing. We see them in the throes of withdrawal and, more rarely, doped to the point of complete loss of awareness with their only spoken sentiments being about their specific despairs and missing loved ones. We see them lurking on street corners to advertise for dates, visiting public restrooms to shoot up, using pay phones to contact dealers, and running small dealing operations out of temporary and deteriorating living spaces. We see them attempting relationships with other addicts, but it seems that what draws these people together is their addiction and mutual need for supporting their addiction. We see them attempting to regain their lives when jail or death looms, but we also witness them inevitably falling back into the deadly grip of addiction.

Great documentaries reveal stark reality, and this film certainly accomplishes that.

This is a good modern companion piece to the classic Paris is Burning, only this time around the subjects are on the lesbian wavelength.

The director did an excellent job at selecting truly compelling people and edits it all (6 years of footage) to make a beautiful and comprehensible timeline of events in these people's lives. This is a "microscope" doc, like Paris is Burning and Gendernauts, and focuses on people within one small community. Still the things they deal with are universal and the issues of gender and sexuality addressed can benefit anyone in terms of broadening your perspective.

The director is very minimally invasive, almost invisible, and the subjects are utterly open and comfortable with the camera. Can't recommend it enough.