sophie-smith-1

This is a fantastic film--it examines drag from a fresh and complex perspective. Queens works against the mainstream representational tendency to romanticize and exoticize drag and its performers, revealing the everyday business of drag as in one sense a simple means of subsistence. Yet the film then expertly delves into the gendered psychological dynamics of "drag" as it is experienced by both the performers themselves, and just as importantly the film argues, by the spectating audience. Queens explores the curiosities and attendant anxieties surrounding maleness and femaleness that draw people into the club--from the Christian bride-to-be to the macho 'man's man' to those coping with living openly as transgender, the club appears to both serve as an alluring challenge to normative life and as a therapeutic respite for a large, vibrant, and often struggling community. All of this and more is accomplished through an unflinching look at the life of Darcelle, a 76-year old drag queen who runs the oldest drag club in the nation--an amazing person, and a great point of entry into the psychological work of drag performance. A wonderful and necessary documentary film.