Four drag queens find themselves at therapy together in Topanga with a pair of very particular therapists. There they tell their stories and work on their issues.
Written and directed by Jordan Danger, this dramedy mixes the stories of many people in the drag world, showing their lives on and off stage, the events that affect them, the challenges they face in life and in work. The film shows the very real side of things for many in performance work, but particularly for drag queens. The take here feels intimate in how it approaches the characters and their performers. The film as a whole tells more than one story, coming together cohesively as one bigger picture story.
The cast here is what makes this film what it is. The cast is strong and filled with drag performers and not simply actors playing drag in most cases. These folks here are the real deal, they’ve lived it, they’ve been through it. They show this in their performances in and out of drag with emotions and a reality that come off just right for the film. Coming up top of the performance, Kelly Mantle as Marmelade aka Lewis is fantastic here, the emotions shown, the restraint, the performance as a whole all make of Marmelade/Lewis a fantastic character to follow throughout the film. This performance is central here even though the film showcases everyone in a mostly equal manner. Jordan Michael Klein as Gigi aka Klein is the one the film focuses on first, and this does give them an advantage in terms of connection with the audience. Their performance here is strong, so that connection sticks through to the end. The rest of the cast includes a who’s who of the drag world and a few other character actors who all provide good to great performances here. Overall, this is on strong, somewhat flashy at times, ensemble cast.
The cinematography by Christopher Hamilton helps brings all these characters to the screen in a manner that lets them shine. Some of the sequences truly give space to the performer on the screen, giving them 100% attention from not only the camera, but from the viewer as well. The work here is done very deliberately and knowing of what the film needs to work. This is how you shoot a film that goes from drag stage performance to intimate in the mirror moment to photoshoot to in home intimate conversation. There is a lot here and most scenes end up requiring their own way of being shot, which the cinematography gives them very well.
God Save the Queens comes off as a drag performance film from what is shown as marketing, but it’s more than that, it’s a film about the challenges faced by the performers of this flamboyant and electrifying world. It’s a film about the people behind the characters, the very real people with very real feelings and lives. The film shows this with a great balance for challenges, humor, raw emotions, and extra fab outfits. There is a careful balance achieved here without which this would have been another run-of-the-mill dramedy.