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Stop! That! Train!

By Golu
Coming out of the same studio that gave us RuPaul's Drag Race, and stacked with a whole crew of former contestants, Stop! That! Train! plays like RuPaul basically taking a bow for the entire franchise she's built. It's not really a gay film in the traditional sense, but with so many drag stars from Ru's shows popping up alongside a few cameos from well known out gay actors, I figured it earns a spot on this blog anyway. The whole thing is completely over the top, packed with GenZ slang, loud flashy visuals, and humor that's constantly winking at you knowing how ridiculous it is. Going in you'd assume it's meant to be a laugh riot, and a lot of critics online seem to be eating it up, but I just couldn't get into it at all. I've never really been someone who vibes with campy silly stuff like this, so honestly my reaction doesn't surprise me one bit. The setup follows Tess and DeeDee, two low level stewardesses who sneak onto the fancy Glamazonian E...
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Les Témoins (French) [The Witnesses]

By Golu
Within 10 minutes into the movie and I knew I am gonna like the film. And I was correct to a large extent except that after a point the film seemed like being stretched a little too much. One other small drawback was trying to pack in a lot of different facets in one film.

Manu, a young 18 year old guy comes to Paris and stays with his sister Julie, an upcoming opera singer in the prostitute area because none of them have any money. One night while cruising Manu meets Adrien, an old doctor who is very good at heart. Slowly they become friends. Adrien helps Manu with Paris sightseeing and all that and asks in return which suits Manu fine because all he also wants is his friendship. One weekend Adrien takes Manu to meet his friend Sarah and her cop husband Mehdi. They have a baby which Sarah despises because she now realizes that she was never ready to be a mother. She is a write and wants her peace to write books. Sarah and Mehdi have a open marriage where they are allowed to have affairs. Manu has this secret crush on Mehdi which after various different turns of events, Mehdi gives into. They start having a full fledged affair without anyone knowing about it. Meanwhile Manu gets a job and he moves in suburbs of Paris thereby losing his touch with Adrien. One night when Adrien misses Manu very much, he goes to visit him and Manu tells him that he is seeing Mehdi. Adrien is broken for 2 reasons: for his friend Sarah and also because he could not get Manu for himself since he deeply loved Manu. Adrien then discovers that Manu has probably caught on HIV, a virus that just started spreading in 1984 in US. Manu breaks up with Mehdi, moves in with Adrien who takes his utmost care till he dies. Manu records his memoirs and gifts it to Sarah who then decided to write a book on it. Time passes. Adrien gets more and more busy with his research on AIDS and ultimately finds a new man in his life. Mehdi and Sarah resolve their difference and are still working to make their marriage successful.

The initial parts of the movie were very nice. Manu's flirting with Adrien, a young cute boy who wants to do something in life and also find love. HIs passion for his work, his love for Mehdi and his friendship with Adrien or for that matter with a hooker were all shown very nicely. Everyone's acting was also very nice. Considering movie is set in 80s, a lot of different facets of relationships; friends, brother sister, lovers, affairs etc are shown in avery poignant manner. I loved it. How I wished the pace of the movie was a little faster when Manu is detected with the virus. Somehow the movie seemed to drag after that but it was still very honest.

Definitely worth a watch. Manu's and Mehdi's raw chemistry to something to watch for. (7/10)
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