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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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Chuppan Chupai (Urdu Documentary) [Hide and Seek]

By Golu
This very interesting documentary is about a group of Pakistani sexual minorities, raising questions about transgender activism, religion, underground gay life, social acceptance and collective familial customs of transgender women in urban Pakistan. The film features four individuals and focuses on their internal conflicts and their constant play of 'hide and seek' from the mainstream population in the urban areas of Pakistan. The film presents the experiences, the interior conflicts, the rights they are denied, the distress and, above all, the impossibility of loving in a country deeply influenced by Islam.

The film starts with Neeli, an aging transgender, who has fully immersed herself in activism. She had an important role in the decision by the Supreme Court to legalize the “third gender”. We meet her, her friends, how the birthdays are something she and her group looks forward to and the struggles she faces. We then meet. Jenny is a transgender university student, who has recently been castrated. Kami is a cross dresser, a practice adopted by both transvestites and homosexual people who want to be accepted. Kami decides to live together with her macho boyfriend. And then we meet an effeminate man, living in village who shares his stories of sexual abuse as a child by his uncle and how it continued over the years and how he is trying to control his sexual urges towards men otherwise how will he get married.

The 4 personal stories offers varying degrees of the queer experiences in this country. What was incredibly was the, strength shown to persevere and push forward. The contradiction between the Islamic and traditional societal believe against the queerness of all characters was certainly touched on but was incredibly heartbreaking. LGBT rights in Pakistan are non-existent – and so there is no official LGBT community as such. The only somewhat tolerated group within sexual minorities, are the large transgender community who seem to form close bonds of familial ties to fight oppression and continue to smile through their tears. I have to say that all four subjects in the documentary were the real stars. They had charisma to hold themselves in front of camera, they were natural and unabashedly shared their stories. They all had haunting true sadness. One of the better and engaging documentaries that I have seen of late. (6.5/10)
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