There is drag, then there is drag. Presented by Animals Of Distinction, film maker Austin Young, in collaboration with drag superstars Willam Belli, Alaska Thunderfuck and Laganja Estranja, have created a warped fairytale here that plays with tropes of fashion shoots, pop videos and horror, with a knowing sashay to seventies femme iconographiy (Wonder Woman, Charlie’s Angels and Police Woman).
By framing the silent but dangerous uber-glam trio as neither heroines nor anti-heroines, but rather as more complex, the film plays fast and loose with the narrative, form and content in wholly unexpected and jaw-dropping ways: this is film as performance art; and vice versa.
The process of drag creation is deconstructed, by showing in detail, the painful art of tucking penises in, then stapling wigs on as though the queens were sexbots. What follows is an urban neon hell, whereby the dynamic babes spray transformative golden showers in the faces of homophobic haters in stores, and on the streets, thereby satirising the right-wing, reactionary Trumpists and keyboard warriors who feel threatened by drag being assimilated into mainstream media, through LGBTQ positive shows like Drag Race. This is in and of itself cheeky, as the three artists received such popularity from said show, indelibly etched into audience’s minds like tattoos, with their zingers, wild style and artistry.
With a thumping, typically sassy/ pervy electronic soundtrack provided by fellow iconoclast Peaches, a savage script, and truly transgressive flavour, this film has smarts, sexiness, and six inch stiletto heel subversion.
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