Alaska Is A Drag

I saw this short film of the same name many years back and was quite excited to see the short getting a full length feature adaptation. The film is more like a dramedy where accepting one's gender identity, acceptance, coming out blend really well with still very prevalent homophobia and sexual discrimination. Having said that I did have higher expectations of the film, and somehow the film dragged and not in the good way that I would have expected.

Leo and his twin sister Tristen have lived in Alaska for ten years after their father George moved them, and mother Lucy up there with the reason of toughening them up but grown up now, they both dream of leaving the state in search of their mother and becoming drag stars. Leo works in a fish canning factory while Tristen is dealing with chemotherapy. Leo has always dreamt of becoming a drag superstar. But the straight colleagues of his always give him a hard time, bully and beat him which has been going through high school and so he has natural self protective instincts. Seeing that, his employer starts to coach him for boxing also. Enter Declan, the mysterious drop-dead gorgeous new worker at the cannery, described by Tristen as “kind of cute in a fucked-up kind of way.” He becomes Leo's friend. We know nothing about him, is he interested in Leo, is he attracted, gay or straight, or just friendly curious guy, we actually don't find this out till the very end, but he just comes as a guardian angel for Leo and Tristen. Leo participates in a local drag contest and come sin second and also ends up winning a boxing match against his bully friend. But in the end, thanks to constant push by Declan, the brother-sister duo finally find the courage to leave Alaska and make their way out to LA.

The cast of the film is spot on and they all actually do an amazing job, but the big problem with the film is that it is all over the place. Leo wants to become drag superstar, but also a boxer but also wants o leave town. He and his bully friend share some unresolved issues and the new guy invokes further feelings in him, who by the way, is himself confronting his own internalized homophobia and also his sexuality. The whole father's angle was also all over the place, He is a drunk, street preacher, (was he also homosexual?). Then the mother and her whole story. There are so many elements and threads, its hard to figure out which one will eventually get taken to climax. WIth a title like this, you would think the focus will be on Leo and his dream of becoming a drag, but unfortunately besides the competition, there is really no focus on it. As mentioned before, the script is all over the place. It is clearly a low budget film and can use some serious script improvements. Despite the flaws, thankfully a very charming cast saves the day, otherwise the film would have fallen flat. Audiences will warm to Leo’s flamboyant nature and marvel at Tristen’s courageous and positive outlook towards her health issues and their chemistry as siblings is spot on. It's light hearted but certain repetitive scenes take the fun out. The film leaves many questions unanswered and all subplots unrefined, but maybe this is the way of making sure that we as audience ask ourselves and question our own decisions. (5.5/10)