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 Shadows off the beaten pathIndies, foreign, docs and shorts...
On this page:
BEING BEBE |
JIMMY IN SAIGON |
TRAMPS!
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| See also: SHADOWS FILM FESTIVAL | Last update 27.Mar.22 | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Being BeBe Review by Rich Cline | 
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 dir Emily Branham prd Jonathan Goodman Levitt, Marc Smolowitz, Emily Branham with Nea Marshall Kudi Ngwa, Dimitra Ngwa, Bernice Ngwa, Geraldine Ngwa Adelola, Vanjelis Ngwa, Elizabeth Ngwa, Collins Ngwa, Azah Tabah, Anthony Vincent Bova, David Mendizabal, Nina Diangelo, Marc Lambert Lamba release UK Mar.22 flare 21/US 1h33  Now streaming... |
 The very first winner of RuPaul's Drag Race is the subject of this fairly straightforward documentary. Filmmaker Emily Branham outlines 15 years in the life of BeBe Zahara Benet, while also highlighting the way his high profile has changed public perceptions in his home country Cameroon, even as homosexuality remains illegal there. Meanwhile, clips of BeBe's performances over the years remind us what a fabulous star he still is. A natural performer from a very early age, BeBe (aka Marshall Kudi) grew up in Cameroon and first performed in drag in Paris as a teen before moving to Minnesota at age 19. In 2008, he caught RuPaul's attention with a performance at Minneapolis Pride, then auditioned for Drag Race. After becoming the first crowned superstar drag queen in 2009, he moved to New York, putting his supermodel looks on show. In a career marked by a series of starts and stops, he repeatedly returns to his African roots, celebrating his heritage. Tellingly, he shot home movies of his journey, even before Drag Race, so there's plenty of footage of him in a wide range of colourful settings, including scenes in which he creates his iconic looks. Jumping around in time, the film uses the Drag Race format of framing sequences with BeBe reacting as he watches this documentary. In interviews, Bebe has always been cagy about his sexuality, although he does speak about being bullied as a child for being effeminate. And even then he won people over by bringing everyone together. One colleague speaks about how Bebe is always on, even when he's off stage. His parents and four siblings celebrate his success but admit that it took awhile to understand what it was all about. And while he has fame as a performer and musician, he has struggled to switch it up into something more permanent. The film documents his ongoing work to reinvent himself in various projects. And this hustle has paid off in a variety of unexpected ways, rewarding him as he helps people express themselves. Bebe's journey is intercut with stories of LGBTQ activists who are challenging the system in Cameroon. This finally ties in as the camera travels to Cameroon with BeBe for his father's memorial service. Reflecting his background, BeBe is still reluctant to be vulnerable, which means that the film only subtextually gets under his skin. But BeBe remains amazed that something as ridiculous as drag has now turned around and become something powerful in society, empowering people to live fiercely.
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Jimmy in Saigon Review by Rich Cline | 
Now streaming...
|  Confronting a veil of sadness that he's always felt in his family, filmmaker Peter McDowell documents his impressive investigation to discover the facts about the big brother he barely knew. This is a beautiful collection of interviews with a variety of people, illustrated with extensive home movies and snapshots. And while making this film over more than a decade, Peter uses the truth to rewrite his family's history. With his whole family still feeling raw since eldest son Jim died at 24 in 1972 Saigon, youngest brother Peter decides to look up Jim's friends and make sense of the unfocussed stories he's heard about him. Because no one has ever spoken about how Jim died, he soon feels like he's on the tip of the iceberg. His research takes him in startling directions, as Peter learns that like him, Jim may have actually been gay. So he travels to Saigon, where he learns that the official story was a lie. Politically active, Jim was a life-loving teen who knew he was likely to get drafted. So he dropped out of university and waited. Sure enough, he was sent to Vietnam in 1970, using any drug he could find to get through it. He also fell in love with the country, and after coming home decided to return as a civilian, disillusioned with American society. Living with a Vietnamese family, he began working as a journalist and wrote home about how happy he was. But his sudden death wasn't due to heroin abuse as reported. Peter's mother Ellen and four siblings speak openly about their family life, describing Jimmy as a curious, strong-willed kid who was 18 when Peter was born. Then Peter begins visiting Jim's friends, visiting locations from Jim's Saigon photographs and tracking down key people who know what happened all those years ago. And he discovers the truth everyone has been so reluctant to speak about. Not only is the snaky investigative narrative riveting, but the film's emotional depth is powerfully moving. There's a fascinating angle to this story, as Peter is looking for the role model he never had. So in tracing Jim's footsteps, he is searching for something that seems just out of reach. As each piece of the puzzle falls into place, there's a growing feeling that Peter's life makes a bit more sense now. And as all of these people put their memories together to create the unspoken bigger picture of Jim's life, Peter discovers a close connection with his brother.
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| Tramps! Review by Rich Cline |
Now streaming...
|  This blisteringly energetic documentary covers the period of London's 1970s-80s art scene most well-known for the Blitz Kids and New Romantics. But filmmaker Kevin Hegge looks beyond high-profile stars like Boy George and related icons like David Bowie, digging much more deeply into the origins and textures of this ground-level movement. The film traces events with unusual intimacy, revealing intriguing queer sensibilities that are almost mainstream today. In the mid-70s, art school education was available to even the poorest children, many of whom then moved into London squats with their classmates, forming a tight community of anarchic creative thinkers who would make enormous impacts in the worlds of art, theatre, fashion, dance, music and film. With little or no money, they created a vast array of unforgettable work from whatever they had, then put it on show in a range of outrageous venues. Much of their work was deliberately provocative, but it was also an expression of liberation within a conservative society. Hegge has tracked down a remarkable collection of archival film footage, which takes the audience on a journey deep into these glitter-intensive years. And the clips are accompanied by sparky first-hand interviews with the survivors, who share riotous personal anecdotes and opinions. They also highlight their talented friends who are no longer with us, including Derek Jarman, Leigh Bowery and Trojan. Bowery gets more screen time than most, thanks to filmed interviews with him. Because the doc is assembled with so much flair, it paints a portrait of this scene that's riveting and even enticing as we watch a seriously cool collection of people converge and emerge at the right time. In this way, the film places this scrappy London art movement within the context of history, revealing telling connections that are linked with political issues and personal clashes. And with their wide range of interests, they made a serious dent in almost every aspect of culture. Indeed, the huge wave of creativity that emerged from this group of young people continues to have a massive influence around the world. In a harsh society, artists are forced to be innovative, so in their desire to stand out from the status quo, this particular group moved the notion of acceptability far beyond even their own expectations. Pointedly, the film ends with comments on the commercial nature of art today, and how young artists now can't even dream of having this much freedom.
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See also: SHADOWS FILM FESTIVAL © 2022 by Rich Cline, Shadows
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