Starring: Ryan Ali, Alexandra Billings, Kiriana Stanton, Dani Jazzar
Director: Reem Morsi
Country: Canada
UK Distributor: Cinephobia
When Egyptian teenager Nabil (Ali) comes to live with his architect father (Jazzar) in Toronto, he is intrigued when he encounters Malibu (Billings). She owns a drag bar – Mandy’s – that is slated for demolition, but between shows and protests she still finds time to take Nabil under her wing and introduce him to the world of drag. But as the young man slowly finds his feet in the Queer Community, he’s hiding a terrible secret; it’s his father’s firm that’s attempting to knock down the bar for redevelopment.
This is a coming-of-age genre film through and through, with a young man gradually finding himself and coming up against the pressures of society and his family. Forced to reconcile traditionalism with personal expression, it’s a feel-good pride-by-numbers flick that pitches queerness against the establishment. Populated with stock characters and a generic narrative, you know exactly where this film is going right from the first scene. And while there is comfort in familiarity, there’s also no hook to predictability.
The drag scene at Mandy’s is the backdrop, but the film would have been much better-served to bring it out front and centre. We see flashes of the talents of the queens, but these are pushed to the back of the story when some pithy dialogue and edgy support would have made this much, much richer. All too often filmmakers forget that what makes drag queens so watchable isn’t just the way they look, it’s also the way they speak and relate, which is exactly what has happened here.
Vibrant, colourful and full of sparkles, this is a drag film that looks the part. But go beyond the rhinestones and sequins and you’re left with a pedestrian narrative and a clutch of limp characters.
UK Release: Out now on VOD on Prime, released by Cinephobia
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