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Stop! That! Train!

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...

Autopsy (French)

Now this film was something to watch out. Totally engaging crime drama with gays being just a part of it. Some would argue whether homosexuality was the theme of the film or was it just a part of it. The more I think, the more I think it can go in either way. So I will leave it as a gay crime drama very different from whole bunch of other gay films being served out there. Eric and Sarah are detectives who are investigation the murder of a professor which it seems like a gay hate crime. When they go for the autopsy of the corpse, they find Dr. Emmanuel instead of Dr. Rose who had so far been motherly figure to Eric. Eric has been married for 20 years and has a 17 year old son but there is something about Emmanuel that instantly attracts him and he tries very very hard to fight it. They need the doctor for some interrogation but Eric is having a hard time, to the extent that he even gay bashes Emmanuel once. Sarah understands there is something wrong but is too busy with investigation. Because of the witnesses they successfully come up with the sketch of possible murderer. Meanwhile Eric cant take it anymore and tells his wife about his attraction for Emmanuel. She is devastated and asks him to leave. Following this Eric moves in with Emmanuel even though they had not declared love for each other so far. Things are going fine until Eric one day sees Emmanuel meeting his ex who looks exactly like the sketch of the murderer. He feels used by Eric. They get him arrested and his ex-boyfriend tries to run away and dies in a car accident. When the ruth is revealed and the mystery is resolved, it turns out that Emmanuel was always right. He never used Eric or anyone but is very very deeply hurt by all this. After the mystery is solved, when Eric comes to apologize to Emmanuel, they hug and kiss and Emmanuel shoots both himself and Eric without any resistance by Eric. I thought the movie's plot was pretty engaging and interesting. Though I dont read many positive reviews online, I liked it. The acting was very good. Though some may argue (like Sarah does in the film), how can anyone suddenly become gay but I dont think Eric turned gay (in literal sense). He was just so so attracted by Emmanuel that it didn't matter he was a man. One downside is that the murder investigation seemed too rushed. There was no logic or explanation behind how could Eric come up with the theory of the murder and it actually turns out right. Both the characters fit their roles and enacted their part well and they had a very nice chemistry. The scenes capturing Eric's struggle for his attraction to Emmanual was very good. Overall very watchable and interesting for me. (7/10)

Comments

Meira said…
I just don't understand the ending. Why kill themselves? In general, people were pretty ok with gays there.
Unknown said…
Yes, Meira, I agree! I just watched this movie recently and I liked it for what is was. But I didn't much care for the ending. The cop loses his wife over another man, his son hates him, his old lady friend Rose dies, the doctor's ex dies in an accident and another of the doctor's friends is brutally murdered. The two men have each other to hold on to, they love each other deeply and are happy together. They could live on in a great life as lovers. Why do they kill themselves? Tragic endings have their place in some stories, but this one is baffling. There seems to be no ground for it.
Unknown said…
I'm really irritated with this movie ending. I liked the plot even noticing that some scenes were missing to make things clearer. I expected that Eric would return to Emmanuel and they would end up happy after ever. but hell, no, they didn't . it was very frustrating to me watching the entire movie, wishing they would turn out to be together as lover, bfs or good friends, but they did not. but one thing i thought interesting was: when Eric asked Emmanuel what was his thought babout what happens after death, he said that the life keeps on, in the final seconds, the lighter the Eric gave to Sarah, it fell in the street on, firing up and it kept still, their light somehow kept on even after their death, even though i don't believe in such thing, but for a movie it was fantastic to imagine a little bit about that.

I loved it 8.5 my score for that movie.
Golu said…
Wow you just have really liked the film to give it a 8.5. :) Did you also notice that you don't really find too many positive reviews for this film !!

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