Paris Is Burning
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Movie Reviews of Paris Is Burning
Movie Review: ANY SHOPLIFTER CAN GET A LABEL...
Summary: 5 Stars
I first saw this movie in 1991 during my first week at Hampshire College at some theater in Northampton Massachussetts. I was about 17 and had just come out as a latino gay male. I cannot begin to tell you how this movie impacted my life. Paris is Burning has given be comic material and one-liners for well over a decade. Regardless of class, race, or gender, my circle of friends can recite at least one brilliant line from the movie. The DVD has new outtakes and some choice commentary by the very wise and articulate Dorian Corey. Dorian discusses the lack of imagination that exists among today's youth as a result of their reliance on popular media for entertainment. Furthermore, the "ball scene" is a parody of the social paradigm, where roles are played and an outfit, designer label, or the ability to "pass", brings the marginalized individual one step closer to the "American Dream", if only for that fleeting moment on the ballroom floor. "At one time or another we have all lusted to walk a ballroom floor".Movie Review: Amazing, Profound, Sad, Unforgetable
Summary: 5 Stars
I wasn't expecting to love this documentary as much as I did. I have always loved and admired drag queens, gays, and the transgendered/transsexual community, but this documentary brought more to light of how REAL these people are and just how brave, determined, and powerful they actually are. I couldn't help but be moved and yet awfully sad at how these wonderful people used the Balls as a way to escape from a world that doesn't accept them for what they are, who they are, and what they want to be. The balls were an illusion from a world that wouldn't allow them to be who they are, there they found solitude, faith in themselves, and in each other. The most tragic thing is that most of the people in this documentary have died from AIDS, most of them having died between ages 20-30, or have been murdered because they were gay or transgendered. Though they are all gone their spirits will live on forever in this film.Movie Review: Touching
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie had been a required piece of viewing in my Literary Theory course in English, and at first I had been highly skeptical. For the first ten minutes, my classmates and I had squirmed around, some clearly uncomfortable with the subject matter and frank descriptions; a number were highly amused. However, by the end of the movie, I had grown to quite enjoy its portrayals of the vogueing scene, and the balls the houses would put on.
The era it was filmed in is highly obvious by the attires and clothing of everyday people on the streets, a sort of Benetton ad from my youth. Throughout the movie, I started wondering: where are these people right now? Did they reach their goals, their dreams? Are they still alive chasing, or are most of them victims of their lifestyle? A poignant, challenging, and ultimately rewarding movie that I can't wait to see on DVD.
Movie Review: Even more fabulous with the extra footage and commentary!!
Summary: 5 Stars
I really enjoyed this documentary because it was so entertaining and full of energy. I love the extra footage, and the commentary from the director herself was incredibly intelligent, while the men who spoke 20 years later were wiser and still resilient and funny. This film is also a great historical piece. You see new york when it had a thriving underground scene, and "Balls" were held in theaters in Harlem. The characters were stupendous yet the grittiness of life at that time in the city really creeps in. I am really glad I got to this world through this film its really an important american document of race, class, and gender politics.Movie Review: An Item Worthy of the Time Capsule
Summary: 5 Stars
I remember seeing this movie when it first came out in the early nineties. To a (much younger) black gay man at the time it was a hugely significant piece of work. Looking at it more than ten years later now, I feel it's just as significant if only in a historical context. If any black gay man no matter where he lives in the world, wants to get a taste of what life was like for many of his peers back then in New York City, then this is a must. I was there (albeit very briefly) and I can't think of a more accurate snapshot. This one should definitely go into the time capsule!