Paris Is Burning
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VHS Movie Reviews of Paris Is Burning
Movie Review: Even more fabulous with the extra footage and commentary!!
Summary: 5 Stars
I really enjoyed this documentary because it was so entertaining and full of energy. I love the extra footage, and the commentary from the director herself was incredibly intelligent, while the men who spoke 20 years later were wiser and still resilient and funny. This film is also a great historical piece. You see new york when it had a thriving underground scene, and "Balls" were held in theaters in Harlem. The characters were stupendous yet the grittiness of life at that time in the city really creeps in. I am really glad I got to this world through this film its really an important american document of race, class, and gender politics. Movie Review: Oh come let us adore them/These Legendary Children
Summary: 5 Stars
I first saw this film in London when it was doing the festivals and my friends & I - black and white alike - immediately got caught up in the world of balls, houses, legends, categories, shade, reading, walking and mopping. There's a remarkable transformative moment around two thirds of the way through where a pretty young transsexual, Octavia, attends a modelling competition in a white suburban shopping mall and as we, the viewers, are confronted by a sea of white, straight, comfortably-off faces we find ourselves wondering, 'Well, what do these people do? They don't walk in balls. They don't compete in categories. What do they have in their lives?' At that moment one is - or I was - totally caught up in the world view of the participants in Paris is Burning. It's strange to rewatch now what was then a contemporary piece, and which gave the viewer a portrait of the world of voguing before Madonna opened it up to the great white suburbs, but it's still one of the most vividly human films I've ever seen.
The dvd features a clean wide-screen print, deleted and extended scenes, and a commentary track. The extra scenes are mostly interesting. There's a whole strand on the religious beliefs of the leading participants, and how they view their sexuality in light of those beliefs. There's brief footage of Willie Ninja's (wheelchair-bound) mother attending a ball - particularly interesting in light of bell hooks' critique of the film, where she observes that it tends to downplay biological family connections. Only a rather long sequence of a peace festival seems out of place, but even that is tied into an interview with Pepper Labeija and others where war, the military, uniforms, masculinity and machismo are discussed.
After watching the deleted scenes I went straight on to listen to the commentary track, which features director Jennie Livingstone and her editor, and two of the leading characters in the film, one of whom, Willie Ninja, went on to have success as a dancer-choreographer with Malcolm Mclaren and, of course, Madonna. Commentaries are often flabby and dull, but this one isn't. Everyone is to the point and the listener learns a lot, both about the business of putting the film together and about the interplay of film-maker and participants. All four seem fond of each other and clearly enjoy reliving the times when the film was shot. We find out who is still with us and hear the story of the mummified body found in Dorian Corey's flat (about which I remember reading years ago) from those who knew him. I found particularly interesting remarks about what the ball scene is like now. ('It used to be Legends. Now we've gone to Icons'). Commentaries can really drag but this one whisks by.
I read in a recent issue of gay monthly Attitude that there's a follow-up documentary (not by Livingstone) that one can buy mail-order on dvd, by which means the makers hope to finance cinema distribution. Whilst that doesn't make me that optimistic about its quality it certainly sounds worth a look.
Movie Review: ANY SHOPLIFTER CAN GET A LABEL...
Summary: 5 Stars
I first saw this movie in 1991 during my first week at Hampshire College at some theater in Northampton Massachussetts. I was about 17 and had just come out as a latino gay male. I cannot begin to tell you how this movie impacted my life. Paris is Burning has given be comic material and one-liners for well over a decade. Regardless of class, race, or gender, my circle of friends can recite at least one brilliant line from the movie. The DVD has new outtakes and some choice commentary by the very wise and articulate Dorian Corey. Dorian discusses the lack of imagination that exists among today's youth as a result of their reliance on popular media for entertainment. Furthermore, the "ball scene" is a parody of the social paradigm, where roles are played and an outfit, designer label, or the ability to "pass", brings the marginalized individual one step closer to the "American Dream", if only for that fleeting moment on the ballroom floor. "At one time or another we have all lusted to walk a ballroom floor".Movie Review: An Item Worthy of the Time Capsule
Summary: 5 Stars
I remember seeing this movie when it first came out in the early nineties. To a (much younger) black gay man at the time it was a hugely significant piece of work. Looking at it more than ten years later now, I feel it's just as significant if only in a historical context. If any black gay man no matter where he lives in the world, wants to get a taste of what life was like for many of his peers back then in New York City, then this is a must. I was there (albeit very briefly) and I can't think of a more accurate snapshot. This one should definitely go into the time capsule!Movie Review: You wanna talk about reading...
Summary: 5 Stars
I LOVE this movie and have had the VHS for years.
I can't believe the tape hasn't broke yet from viewing
it so much. I am SO GLAD to finally see that it's on DVD
and I can buy another copy!
Pepper LaBeija - Pepper LaBeija :-) Ives St. Laurent of course!