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...
We meet present day Fritcher and Hemry, a married couple that had been together for decades. The two met at, what is called a gay fairytale, a Harvey Milk birthday party and soon began dating. They came up with the idea of open for fetish when they found no porn available for the kind of stuff they were both interested in. Jack would cast non-professional actors, mostly men they met at gay bars, pride parades, fetish clubs or just through word of mouth. He would find out the performers own unique interests in sex and craft videos along those lines. Because they were a company that predominantly focuses on kinks, they would often have videos that pushed the boundaries of what is considered taboo by the mainstream. Things like, BDSM, role play, using whips, chains, slapping, ropes, nipple clamps, cigars, urine and even vomit were all in fair game. During the days Jack would shoot films with the models at the home he shared with Mark, and when Mark came home from his “straight” job he would spend all evening editing the pictures. Between the two of them they did everything from shooting, editing, composing, setting up advertisements in magazines, sending out mailers, producing VHS tapes, distribution, finding new models and more.
Through this documentary, we get the inside look at an often misunderstood genre of filmmaking. We also get a picture into the life of a couple who, on the surface you think would be a very out there one, but instead is so absolutely tender your heart melts every time they give each other a little peck on the lips. In the film we get plenty of interviews from former stars of the Palm Drive Videos describing how safe and freeing it was to work with Jack and Mark, we also hear from fans and even porn historians. One of the interviewees was a man who was one of the company’s most popular models. He would flex his muscles, get all sweaty and talk dirty to the camera, the only thing was he was also straight. He never had sex on camera, just did solo masturbation scenes. If you can stomach the hardcore porn, with some very, very graphic kink fetishes shown (and I truly mean it. They are very graphic) this movie is a fascinating look at two people and their influence in a world many people likely don’t even know about. Despite all the pluses, it never feels like the film is too interested in digging deeply into the subject matter beyond the broad strokes.. Kink has never been my scene, so I may not be objective in reviewing this. (3.5/10)
Comments