PCP Vol. 2, No. 4: Drag, Death & Disappointments

Hello all,
It's the start of season finales time, which means it's time to sum up my thoughts on RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars and How To Get Away With Murder. Both had disappointing years, but there are still good and bad bits to both. Also this week, I watched the new Netflix cooking show Nailed It and attended the Melbourne Queer Film Festival with my partner Finn. Hope you all had a good week and see you next time for some more views and reviews!

Films

Alaska Is A Drag (2018)
US, directed by Shaz Bennett. Viewed at the Melbourne Queer Film Festival.
Alaska Is A Drag tells the story of Leo, a flamboyant young man who sees drag as a way for him and his cancer-ridden sister to escape boring, oppressive Alaska. However, an attractive new guy at work, Declan, introduces Leo to boxing which may be an even better way out for them. The story of a gay man wanting out of dull small-towns is old-hat (Closet Monster, I Killed My Mother and Brokeback Mountain are just a few off the top of my head, while Big Eden features a memorable reversal of the idea) and the notion of drag as an escape from drab, difficult lives was portrayed more thoughtfully in the excellent Paris Is Burning. So, it suffers in comparison, something that isn't helped by describing it as 'Rocky meets Hedwig'. That's a deeply intriguing idea, and that's the major issue I had with this film.

   There are some really clever ideas, but it fails to capitalise on them. At one point, the film combines drag and boxing to memorable, unique effect, but it's an isolated scene, the rest situating them as polar opposites. Furthermore, it has a love interest problem. I found Declan infuriating, aggressive and confusing, giving mixed signals to Leo. He has no discernible backstory to explain his behaviour, so it seems even more inexplicable. His character is a black mark on what is otherwise an enjoyable, if unremarkable film. That said, there are some things to love: the cinematography, the relationship between Leo and his sister, a wonderful scene with Leo and his biggest bully finally talking openly to one another and the sheer fact that it exists. We can always do with more queer films, but it's frustrating to see the potential in a film only for it to be rarely met. Rating: B

Human Flow (2017)
Germany, directed by Ai Weiwei. In cinemas now.
Artist Ai Weiwei's two-and-a-half-hour documentary about the plight of refugees is a hard sell. At the cinema I watched it, only a few people besides my film group were there and that's understandable. It's insanely depressing, incredibly slow and frequently overwhelming, covering the current crises of Syrians, Palestinians, Iraqis, and more. The issue is so huge that it threatens to become unmanageable and unbearable.

   Weiwei fills the screen with beautifully composed images of intricately organised shelters, train stations come camps, bright orange boats on blue seas, fires and deserts. These images are so stunning, that they threaten to reduce the situation, as we focus on the composition rather than the crisis at hand. However, there are devastating, human moments that shake us. Like the woman showing photos of her cat dressed in silly costumes before she had to leave, or the gut-punch of a scene that has a woman, back to the camera, sobbing and retching, unable to cope with all that has happened to her and having a visceral reaction. Or the man silently crying behind a cardboard sign that reads simply respect. These moments help to put a human face on the disaster created by political back-and-forth, and force us to check our privilege.
   While not as shattering or essential as Eva Orner's brutal, unforgettable 2016 doco Chasing Asylum (which should make every Australian hang their head in shame), Human Flow will stay with me for a long time. Now, if only we get the people who needed to see it watching it. Rating: B

TV Series (New)

RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars season 3 (premiered Jan 2018)
This season of Drag Race has been a disappointment and, if it were to have any hope of redeeming itself, it needed to pull out all the stops for a stellar finale. It did not. Instead, it relied on an interesting challenge that ultimately meant nothing, a shocking twist just for the sake of it and a win that everyone predicted as soon as the list of queens was announced.
   Trixie's win feels like a mistake for a whole lot of reasons (she's already famous, Shangela had done more work, it's another white or white-presenting All Star winner, it smacks of producer interference), but this has never been Drag Race's finest hour, and it's hard to know why. It could be BenDeLaCreme's unprecedented dominance didn't allow the other queens to shine, and that her decision to leave upended the series in the worst possible way (The A.V. Club's Oliver Sava did a wonderful job explaining why). Or it could be the rushed nature of the season which resulted in lackluster challenges and strange editing choices (shortened runways are NEVER a good idea). There's a whole lot of reasons, but these choices often made All Stars 3 lackluster (save the fantastic Bitchelor episodes, yards above everything else this season). Season 10, you better work. Rating: C-

How To Get Away With Murder season 4, part 2 (premiered Jan 2018)
How To Get Away With Murder continues to be one of TV's most frustrating shows, a unique mix of great and awful. In season 4, the show's trademark twists and turns grew ever more tiresome, focused around uninteresting dead-ends like Isaac Roa, Laurel's evil dad, the DA, Simon and the unending question of who killed Wes?
   Back in season 3, I was excited about what would happen in the wake of Wes' death. By that point, he was both the centre of most of the plotlines and strangely removed from everyone else. Killing him off was a ballsy, necessary move, but to continue to focus on it years later is dull. There was also no overarching mystery, no greater goal and there continues to be a divide in the show, which can be explained by two words: Viola Davis.

   Davis' performance as Annalise Keating is beyond exceptional, portraying a traumatised and traumatising woman who fights for what's right but keeps getting dragged into deeply upsetting messes. Whenever she's on screen, How To Get Away With Murder can never be truly terrible and she forces the show to rise up to her greatness. In the season's best episode, she delivers a stirring speech that's a summation of everything that makes this show great; a focus on the downtrodden, the traumatised and the way that race plays a role in everyday life. It's also far removed from the twisty chaos.
   Still, there are very few shows on TV so perfectly curated for entertainment, especially in the perfectly edited montages of everything going to hell set to epic, apocalyptic, vaguely orchestral music. It makes How To Get Away With Murder fun and intriguing, but ultimately that same emphasis on cool twists at the cost of character stops this show from being even better. Rating: B

Nailed It (premiered Mar 2018)
This Netflix cooking show is entertaining but also kinda mean. Getting three amateur bakers to duplicate a meticulously designed cake or cookie is a recipe for hilarious failure. We laugh as a contestants forget to put in the flour or decide to go freestyle. That's also a mean premise (especially when compared to the Bake Off), but there is no denying how funny and breezy this show is to watch. The most notable episodes feature a spectacularly nightmarish Trump cake (which made Finn laugh so loud his mum told us off) and a woman who actually does it nail it by making a great shark cake. Her success is the rare emotional high that delights in disasters. Rating: B-

Week-By-Week

Will & Grace s9e14: The return of Will & Grace has been a little up-and-down. While it never fails to be amusing, it has had the occasional clunker, usually those dealing with political issues in a tone-deaf way. It's good to see this week's episode starting to take on those issues in a nuanced, interesting way, providing a controversial take on the gay wedding cake baker news story. While this has received both criticism and praise, I found it to be both thought-provoking and funny, forcing me to think about the issue in a different way. Also, the subplot that features Will wondering if Jack likes him more than a friend finally puts a rest to one of the show's biggest questions (thankfully, in the definite negative). While not as great as the season's best episode (Nick Offerman's guest appearance was perfection), this remains another good sign for what has been an excellent return for a wonderful series.
Drunk History season 5: I've just learnt that Drunk History is now on break until 19 June. I miss it already!

TV Reviews (Classic)

Adventure Time season 3 (premiered Jun 2011)
One of my TV goals this year is to watch all of Adventure Time before it comes to an end. I've tried this before, watching the first three seasons at the height of the show's popularity, but for some reason, I never went back. I don't know why, especially after seeing season 3 and falling in love all over again.

   The first two seasons are fine; funny and interesting but it felt like something was lacking. In season 3, I worked out what that was; pain and a deeper thematic undercurrent. The 26 episodes that make up the third season are all largely masterful, with many undeniable classics. This is the season with 'Memory Of A Memory' (Marceline deals with an abusive ex), 'Too Young' (Lemongrab!), 'Fionna And Cake', 'No One Can Hear You' (freak deer!), 'Thank You' (a beautiful, largely standalone episode that almost got nominated for an Academy Award), 'Holly Jolly Secrets' (arguably the series' most important early episode) and 'Incendium' (Flame Princess!). These episodes all have a melancholy undertone which helps the series become more than just a (very good) adventure comedy.

   This is exemplified in the season's best episode 'What Was Missing', an extremely poignant story with two tear-jerking songs as a way into into complex feelings. It came as no surprise to see it was from Rebecca Sugar, who would later explore the same kind of ideas in her own series, Steven Universe. As a whole, season 3 is easily the best Adventure Time season I've watched yet and it's made me hungry for even more. Rating: A

What did you watch this week? Did you agree that Shangela deserved to win Drag Race? Let me know in the comments!

Regards,
David Gumball-Watson