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...
Jonas is a 30 something troubled young man. He picks up fights at the popular gay bar and sleeps around. His boyfriend has had enough of it and ultimately dumps him. But all this volatile behaviour has something to do with his past. Meanwhile we also see that Jonas has been stalking this young man everywhere but we don't see the connection until later. Flash back to 1997 when Jonas as a teenager meets the rebellious new student Nathan. Jonas immediately has crush on Nathan and they become good friends. The friendship. and eventually curios love blossoms and is depicted quite well. When they share their first kiss, the sparks are immediately felt. But a serious incident happens where Nathan gets kidnapped or murdered, we will never know and Jonas was the only one with him that night. Finally we see the connection that this young man is Nathan's brother and all Jonas is trying to seek is forgiveness.
This movie is a very emotional yet charged movie. Its hard to even imagine the pain that Jonas must be going through to pick up all the fights and behave the way he does. The director teases out the answers slowly and carefully, capturing our hearts even before the full picture comes into focus. The acting is brilliant by everyone. Everyone is so good, especially the guy playing Jonas that you feel you’re experiencing the film’s events as if you were walking in his shoes. As a teenager he’s shy, lacking in confidence and a bit awkward but always very endearing. As an adult he’s a lot harder, visibly troubled and struggling to move on with his life. Our life gets shaped by events that happen with us and this movie is a wonderful example of that. My one big problem with this film is the finale. It felt a bit rushed and I would have loved to see some kind of closure.
This film is not going to disappoint you. You will want to know what's going on and why Jonas behaves the way he does. You wonder how his life would be today, if the said incident did not happen. A movie succeeds when it makes you think and this film does a wonderful job of it. You just need to be patient. (7/10)
Comments
no hope to explain himself why his first love ended in such tragic way .
Its a good movie and i liked how they played it to different directions ( the way that French movies do ) but in the end it felt like its missing a sting. Not because of the ending ( i liked it ) but i felt the writer\director was putting more effort of hiding the cards about where is this going and playing with the viewer that he left something amiss - can't put my finger on what .
The acting was good - love Natan mother.
I liked the very end when Jonas is finally able to go to the funfair. I take it as a sign he is finally able to move on with his life (but I would have wished for a little more development too)