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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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The Graffiti Artist

By Golu
I am not even sure what was the point of making this film. It is a moody, gay-tinged drama about two rootless drifters who try to communicate with each other while painting the Pacific Northwest walls and object with graffiti. The film barely has dialogues lasting 15 minutes total. You can fast forward the whole thing and still not miss out on anything at all.

Nick, a young teenager lives a life that revolves around eating, sleeping and tagging empty wall space in Portland’s bleak industrial downtown. He shoplifts paints, fruits whatever he needs and ends up sleeping on streets many time. An unexpected bond established with Jesse, who is from a more affluent home but is also very much into graffiti. They tag together, photographing each other in front of their joint efforts and stay together. Jesse even advances sex to Nick one night but after that things change. Jesse rejects his further advances and decamps to Seattle. When Nick finds him, Jesse tells him that they are two different people which surprises Nick and he reminds Jesse that it was he who initiated sex. He walks away and continues to live his life.

It felt like the film maker wanted to more celebrate the whole art of graffiti and started to come up with a story narrative around it. The painting scenes are broken down into multiple angles in a way that celebrates the act that gives meaning to Nick’s life with details of him painting all over, taking photographs[hs and generally appreciating his work. The film likely got place in a few gay film festivals, which is also weird because barring that one night of hastily and sudden sex event between the two boys, nothing about the film screams queer. The two boys are good looking and honestly decent actors. It's the subject that gives them no opportunity to shine. Besides this, the film is mostly just bad tags, badly costumed "undercover" cops, some skateboarding, and a train ride. This is one of those art films that just stay as art and hardly find any takers who appreciate it. This is a film that has no plot to begin with and not even a proper ending. The movie just crawls back into its shell of silence and dies. A forgettable movie. (1.5/10)
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