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...
The documentary gives us a brief history of how the group started, what was the situation in Brazil at that point and most importantly how did a group like this which was all about sexuality where male performers, in full display, out and proud of their bodies, fill of hair, wigs and makeup managed to survive and even more importantly create a name for themselves. We see interviews with 5 of the surviving members reliving their glorious days. It tells the story of the troupe’s life cycle: achieving notoriety, then being torn apart by fame, then being destroyed by forces beyond its control.
Personally for me, this was a bit of lazy film making. The only thing that held my attention was the vintage clips of the group in action. The group of 13 men favored cross-dressing or no dressing at all, performing raucous shows heavy with choreography were definitely a sight. They were thorough professionals and electrifying. Beyond that, the random views of other people besides the 5 survivors were just not interesting. I would have liked to know more about how the group was formed, th struggles they had to go through with the government and how did they manage to actually survive. None of that is talked and it seems it was more of just attribute to the group. There is nothing wrong with giving tribute, but watching a selection of friends and acquaintances of these people, mostly repeating or rephrasing what was already said, was extremely disappointing. In my opinion, given the subject matter, this was an opportunity missed. (3/10)
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