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...
Old schoolmates, Michael and Thomas are brought back together in war. Michael saves bloodied Thomas in one of the wars and nurses him to good health. Clearly, both men have feelings for each other and Thomas does the bold step of making the move. War ends and the men come back to London where Michael tracks down Thomas and they both spend a weekend together in Michael’s cottage home. But expectations bound Michael who ends up marrying Flora, as promised and even bears a child where Thomas is the best man. Flora soon discovers her husband’s true love and is devastated by it but to continue to be family and to prevent her husband from going to jail, she asks him to never get caught. Thomas meanwhile gets arrested for gross indecency and this is when Michael realizes his true love for Thomas but cant do anything about it. Years later they meet again but neither of them has the courage to do the unexpected acceptance of love for each other. Circa to part 2 set in modern times. Flora, now a grandmother, lives by herself and her 34 year old grandson Adam, who spends his time working or on online hook-up apps. There is something preventing him from opening up to other men or find true love. He is not even officially out to Flora but she clearly knows about it and totally disapproves. Adam meets Steve, an architect and feels something for him but finds out that Steve is already in a relationship. When Flora gives away the country cottage to Adam, he thinks of possibly redoing the whole place and invites Steve to do that. The two have connection but Steve is in another relationship and Adam can’t get past his addiction for hook-ups. With true love and compassion, Steve tries to bring Adam to reality and make him see the power of love and accepting who he truly is. Flora comes around slowly but surely. The film ends when Adam sees the letter that Michael (his grandfather) wrote to his love Thomas moons ago and how somehow the love and story between the two couples have similarities though generations apart.
As someone on twitter mentioned about their feelings on the show, I totally concur, that this is a very thoughtful contribution in this period of reflection on pre-1967 and post-1967 attitudes in the LGBT world. Its a moving and beautiful story, directed brilliantly and with soul and emotions. The acting and the screenplay is just brilliant. We clearly see two different eras and how gay men have had to deal with situation differently. Michael was superb and you feel for him. You wanna hug him and hold him because you know in the 40s, there is nothing that you can do for him. And then on the other hand you see the current times with John, an actor does a fantastic job of his character,, where yes the sex maybe easy but its increasingly difficult to find true love and to find the one who you can trust on and truly commit to. Both the couples are extremely likable and their love stories are impossible to root against. As such, the moments of loss, regret and pain within the show are extremely effective, as the audience empathizes - experiencing such emotions themselves. Both Michael and Adam are flawed characters, perfectly human in their imperfections and thus more realistic and compelling for viewers to follow. Michael cannot follow his heart and therefore is unhappy but thankfully, Adam puts his pride aside and hence opening the doors of happiness for himself. On the flip side, I feel Flora’s character should have been further developed. After all she is the one who most gets affected by things going around her.
Strong casting, great acting, marvelous storytelling makes this mini series must watch. It entertains audience and leaves them intrigued with ‘what if’ scenario. Must watch. (8/10)
Comments
The first part felt a little bit "brokeback mountain" to me.
And then the second part shows well the difference in 50 years, with some parallel facts between the 2 periods but not for the same reasons.
I felt for nearly every character (especially in the first part of course).
And unlike you Golu I really liked the character of Flora and her evolution. At first clearly homophobe (I guess like many because of the time period) but still courageous for accepting her husband infidelity, still homophobe after years because of what she had to endure, until the end when she realizes she never "won". On the contrary everyone lost (including herself in the first place) because gay love is real. Then she becomes more supportive with Adam.