Review: The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

This movie's pretty gay. And I say that in the nicest possible way, but it's true. It's about three drag queens who take a trip across Australia to the middle of nowhere, leaving a blazing path of rainbow in their wake. It can't get much gayer than that.

Cult-ish, yes. Campy, hell yes. Funny and touching? Sure, that too. To begin, drag queens have never been an interest of mine, despite playing on onstage once upon a time in 10th grade (for real. I was in drag for "Chicago" in 10th grade high school and I wondered why I faced the hell I faced during those years.) So I've never been really super interested in the drag queen culture, but have an appreciation for the balls it takes to dress up in the garish costumes and perform onstage as one.

1994's "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert," which I will just call "Priscilla" for the rest of this review for the sake of typing it all out everytime, explores those cojones it takes for these men and trannies to do this - their motivations, their trials they face by the public, and though the movie does have some good messages, it puts them across in a very fun, campy way. The opening credits are over an excellent Hugo Weaving (Agent Smith from "The Matrix") dressed in full drag regalia singing, nay lip-synching to "I've Never Been to Me" which is one of my all time worst-favorite songs, but completely fitting for this film. I knew from that moment I was in for something delightful. The other performances from the band of queens include a wonderfully subtle performance from Terrence Stamp  as Bernadette, the older and wiser tranny who knows how to beat up a guy in a fight and Guy Pierce, who I knew from "Memento" and "LA Confidential" among other things, but never thought he could've pulled off such a flamboyant character as Felicia so well. His was easiest the funniest part in movie with lots of quicky and witty one-liners. The  title comes from the bus the group travels in, who Felicia christens "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" and the bus soon becomes as much of a character in the movie as the three friends themselves.

I also loved how Australian this film was. You know, because it was made in Australians, by Australians with a very Australian cast so that makes a lot of sense, right? It was an Australian road trip movie, that just happened to feature drag queens. One of the most touching scenes was when the group encountered a band of Aborigines in the Outback and perform "I Will Survive." Whereas every other town Priscilla has stopped in has either shunned, threatened, called names, or even beat up the drag queens, the Aborigines, another minority in Australia who faced persecution and bigotry, accepted the drag queens and even joined into the performance. Where else can you hear a remixed "I Will Survive" complete with didgeridoos and chanting?

The movie is a hoot and holler, so I recommend it highly. It certainly has some flaws as a film, but as a campy cult classic, it works on so many levels - both comically and dramatically. And if you are not too fond of the drag culture, perhaps a movie like this can put a heart and story to the people who perform in drag and make you appreciate their talent.


Patrick Approval Rating: 9/10


"The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" @ imdb

Review: A Serious Man (DVD)

If you haven't seen a Coen Brothers movie, i.e. "Fargo," "Big Lebowski," or "No Country For Old Men," you're missing on out two absurd ridiculous filmmakers who tend to puzzle audiences into loving their movies. At least that's how I feel about the brotherly directing team. "A Serious Man" is their latest whopdinger of a movie, nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars (happening THIS WEEK! Woof.) so I had to see this one before the big day.

I felt about this movie as I felt about "No Country for Old Men." As it starts I'm all - WHA? Idunngittit. And then I fall asleep. Seriously. I was bored and didn't get it and was also tired, so I fell asleep. When I woke up, I thought about giving it a second chance, and resentfully I do- but only because it's nominated for Best Picture. And then once the first 45 minutes/hour pass and the weird settles into my mind and I just succumb to the movie, I end up liking it (in the case of "Serious Man") or loving it (in the case of "No Country.")

I feel like I could've liked or understood the movie so much more if I was Jewish, or even a Christian who was familiar with the Bible, but I'm neither of those so a lot of the biblical parallels and Jewish in jokes that were apparently in the movie went right over my head. "A Serious Man" was like an ode to Judaism and the race and habits and even stereotypes. I found some parts hysterical, other parts awful and morbid - I guess the Coen Brothers really understand and embrace the meaning of dark comedy. This poor tortured soul, Larry, played by Michael Stuhlberg, is suffering one plague of misfortune after another and he tries to understand why it is happening to him. He is a physics professor, so perhaps there is a mathematical way to understand it all, or perhaps it is God punishing him.

I'm keeping this review short and tidy because of all the Best Picture nominees I've seen (which is 9/10 at this point) it's my least favorite. I'm going to give it an approval rating higher than "The Blind Side" because I think this is a better movie all around with better performances and a lot of thought put into every moment, but when I watch a movie I like to understand it, and it to not go over my head, whereas that's something the Coen brothers always seem to strive for. To puzzle their audience so only the savvy and genius can understand it.


Patrick Approval Rating: 6/10


"A Serious Man" @ imdb

Review: (500) Days of Summer (DVD)

This was one of those movies that I had heard so much about and piqued my curiosity, but somehow got lost in the shuffle of 2009. Finally Netflix delivered the goods and I mean that in more way than one.

I had heard about the comparisons between this and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which is one of my favorite movies ever, and the only thing they have in common is the way the stories are told out of order. But whereas Eternal Sunshine should have multiple viewings to fully understand which piece goes where and how they all fit together, (500) Days of Summer has it laid out for all in title cards that come up in between scenes saying which part of the relationship the scene takes place in.

Having an out of sequence plot certainly makes it Not-Your-By-The-Numbers-Romantic-Comedy. Between that and the fact they tell you right from the beginning that the movie is NOT a love story, makes this a romcom for everybody, not just the swoony ladies. And even though it's an indie movie, the film doesn't feel too "indie" like The Science of Sleep, a movie I couldn't even get all the through because it was so WAH? But this movie is smartly written, well acted, wonderfully directed, and walks a tight line between comedy and drama, hipster flick and classic love story.

Basic plot rundown: Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, obviously of 3rd Rock from the Sun fame) and Summer (Zooey Deschanel, who has too many O's in her first name) work at a greeting card company (a plot point I found very funny since I think greeting cards tend to be a bit ridiculous) and Tom's love for Summer lasts 500 days right from the moment they meet until he meets someone new. They breakup right at the beginning of the movie, but then go to the moment they meet at work. See? Out of order.

The most inventive pieces of filmmaking in the movie was the splitscreen for a good 5 minutes between Tom's expectations and reality when he attended a party thrown by Summer around day 440 or so. This was after they had broken up, and Tom had all these ideas of what will happen, as opposed to what did happen. I couldn't decide which one to watch - the happy scene where he sweeps her off her feet and they fall back in love, or the real life scene where Tom spends most of the evening alone and depressed. But how true is something like this to real life? I know I've had expectations and reality is something totally different. That's why I enjoyed the movie as much as I did, because despite all its gimmicks, which didn't even feel like gimmicks, it felt real. I know I've felt like Tom before, and I've felt like Summer before, and I related very much to the characters and the situations.

Plus, any movie that features any sort of musical number makes me giddy, especially a musical number set to Hall & Oates "You're Makin My Dreams Come True" featuring Tom and a bunch of random people wearing blue dancing through a park. It was very "That's How You Know" from Enchanted. But way more hipster-y.

Patrick Approval Rating: 10/10

(500) Days of Summer @ imdb