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...
Garden is the seedy area of Tel Aviv, where a lot of male prostitution happens. Drug addicted, young gay prostitutes and transvestites (Israelis and Palestinians) share the same working space in uncommon harmony and some even as friends. To bring these points home, and make a few more, the film makers follow two young men who "live and work" in the Garden. Nino, a 17-year-old Palestinian living illegally in Israel, in and out of jail and reformatories - and Dudu, an Arab-Israeli. As if the Israel-Palestine conflict wasn't bad enough, these kids have run away from home due to abuse, beating up by family or authorities and live off the streets. Dud finds an older gentleman who provides him an apartment but kicks him out when he finds out that he let an Arab guy stay with him. We follow the lives of these two boys, with them trying to survive one day at a time, dealing with clients, with police, leaning on drugs. It's sad when Dud says he would rather be in a prison because eat least he will have. Place to sleep and food to eat.
This is a raw film that will remind you how hard some gay people have it (although we don't really know if they are gay or doing male prostitution for sake of money). Its a bleak look into how do kids survive in this when they lose contact with their families and how does one grow and evolve with no support system. The documentary was beautifully shot and very well edited. Both Nino and Dudu pretend to be this tough guy, and they have to, to survive on the streets but you also see the occasional boyish weakness which makes your heart feel for them. I think it was the dynamics of their friendship that make the film so intriguing and different than other documentaries that would film each subject separately, unable to tie the characters together in a way other than the fact they both work the same strip. The story is a compelling and fascinating meditation on the complexity of these two young boys relationship, the struggles they endure and their ability to cope with addiction, prostitution, homelessness and displacement. Also by the time the film ends, you do realize that things may not be as black and white as you would think. Its hard to say how much are Nino and Dudu to be blamed for screwing up their life time and again and give up on every opportunity they get to change, but unfortunately those opportunities come with strings attached. At a certain point, we all look for unconditional love and company, that these two boys have for one another. As most people would, I do wonder what happened of these kids? (7/10)
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