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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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Man Of The Year (Mockumentary)

By Golu
Dirk Shafer was Playgirl magazine’s Man of the Year in 1992, finding himself at the centre of attention from magazine readers as the most appealing centrefold to appear in the publication in years. What most people didn't know that he is gay and had a boyfriend back home. Dirk Shafer uses this premise with a mix of facts and fiction, re-creating that scenario, events pre and post that and uses this to act and direct playing himself in this enjoyable and funny mockumentary.

Dirk Shafer, playing himself, introduces us to a little bot about his childhood and how he had always wanted to be in showbiz. He managed to feature as centerfold piece in the Playgirl magazine in 1992. But when after the result of online polls, he also ends up becoming Man of The year, he is now struggling to reconcile his public persona as a sex symbol to women with his identity as a gay man. As the year goes on, Dirk finds himself being interviewed by every talk show host on TV and one minor screw up could cost him his fame. While woman are fantasizing him, men are getting a little suspicious. The film It recounts his personal journey from unemployed gym bunny to sex industry superstar to filmmaker with stylish wit and lots of memorable stories. An obsessed female fan of his with “dry, damaged hair” is particularly funny. We see his boyfriend's perspective, how his parents may or may not have reacted and how almost every person wants to take some or the other credit for the success he has achieved.

Dirk Shafer uses this opportunity combining mock interviews with actors standing in for some people from his past but also using archival footage from the various talk shows he attended. He recreates events like his Playgirl photoshoots, his "fantasy date" with a Playgirl reader and the death of his friend Pledge Cartwright of an AIDS-related illness to relate the story. Life is getting hard since women are literally throwing themselves at him and at home his boyfriend wants him to come out and not lead a double life. The only person who knows him well is his best friend form college Vivian, who is the only other person who plays herself. In true documentary style, the entire film is told through interviews and video footage but its really funny and witty and sometimes crude. I was forever wondering f this acting or real life interviews or what. Dirk Shafer did a wonderful job bringing what had to be the most thrilling adventure in his life to the independent screen. And needless to say that man is drop dead gorgeous and has a very charming and appealing personality. He is charismatic, intelligent, funny and unpretentious and has absolutely no problem making jokes on himself. Even if he wasn't the gorgeous man that he is, he still comes out as thoughtful, articulate and overall a likable person. I had absolutely no expectations from this film, but I have to say that the store rockumentary won me over showing one popular man's struggle to show the pressure that society put on gay people to pretend to be straight. I can't recall if I have seen such stuff before But I had a good time. Given that this came out almost 27 years ago, makes it even more special. Would a proper documentary have been better? I don't know. But I am sure it wouldn't have been as funny as this one ended up being. (6/10)

After having written this review, I found out that Dirk Shafer died in 2015 by possibly an overdose. Such a shame !! :(
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