精灵奇缘2023

Revisiting this 90s flamboyant drag cult made from Down Under, a trio of drag performers, two drag queens, Mitzi (Weaving) and Felicia (Pearce) and a trans-woman Bernadette (Stamp), embarks on a road trip on their titularly coined bus,from Sydney to the outback to perform their routines, en route, they meet multifarious people (whose reaction ranging from beneficent, gobsmacked, impassive, miffed to violent, and the juxtaposition between the aborigine and the white hicks is piercingly sharp) and each has his/her own generational revelation to cope with by the time their four-week-stint ends.

Felicia, a sassy whippersnapper played by a sinewy Guy Pearce in his breaking-out cinema role, who constantly squabbles with Bernadette and has to learn his lesson in a hard way after he has a narrow escape of hate-crime induced mutilation, and Pearce is barnstorming to a fault, as if he is too self-aware of his orthodox masculine appearance, which he compensates with a patina of effeminate affectation and posturing that runs to distracting, as we know that queer and masculine don’t necessarily exclude each other, perceivably, he is the weakest link in the fold.

Hugo Weaving’s Mitzi, acting more natural in his persona’s stage/private distinction, carries a more weighty responsibility when we realize he is married to a woman and they have an eight-year-old son Benji (Holmes), the burden of guilt and shame is what weighs down on every nonconformist being’s soul, his tentative attempt to reconnect with Benj engages with a tender vulnerability that precariously avoids becoming saccharine, which says a lot about the performer’s emotive strength.

Nevertheless, the best performance is unequivocally from Stamp, whose Bernadette is long in the tooth, but she proves that wisdom, dignity and snide quips are amassed through years of hardened self-preservation against side-eyes and brandishing fists, Stamp embodies her with superlative poise larded with subtle cynicism and utter phlegm, which makes Bernadette’s romantic kindling with a rough diamond Bob (Hunter) more like an unexpected boon than a hackneyed plot maneuver.

The show must go on, and for a drag troupe of three, lip-syncing of queer-friendly iconic hits (Charlene’s I’VE NEVER BEEN ME is an infectious show opener, which would be dusted off in Lynne Ramsay’s YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE 2017, and rendered an idiosyncratically poignant effect) is just a one trick pony doesn’t offer much variations, so their pageantry lives and dies with its gaudy, zany, eye-popping, varicolored, Oscar-winning apparel, particularly when being put into use against the vast topography in the middle of nowhere, and the crowning moment on the top of King’s canyon, that majesty feeling of being unique in a cosmic world is so refreshing and life-affirming.

Lastly, one cannot stress this enough, it is an unqualified relief that director/writer Stephan Elliott sticks to his guns with a less dramatic leitmotif to anchor his tragedy-prone subject matter in the most gracious way one can probably conceive,PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT is truly,ahoot and a half.

companion pieces: Beeban Kidron’s TO WONG FOO THANKS FOR EVERYTHING, JULIE NEWMAN (1995, 6.0/10); John Cameron Mitchell's HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH (2001, 7.1/10).

fucking freak 异装癖姐妹团 舞台感十足的电影，华丽绚烂的服饰。从头秀到尾。

夸张的造型下面也有疲惫的内心，越是费劲力气去证明的，往往越是社会缺少的、价值不认同的。

从大城市走进小乡镇的演出之路注定不平坦。反而是土著人的音乐聚会更为包容多元。

性感歌姬 灵魂舞者 颠覆认知男做女 华服道具 世界舞台 天地苍茫怅寥廓 对自身性别的反复确认 对自我认知的不断求证 对世俗伦理的强烈冲击 对传统观念的道德宣战

2019年八月30日晚，在Texas Theater看了本片重映，今年是这部片的首映25周年纪念日，也是我的25岁。感慨万千，25年过去了，笑泪依旧。

1 Mitzi-- Hugo Weaving

看的时候电影院里的人在Mitzi出场的时候就发出了惊呼，因为他演的drag queen真的是太像了，且90%的美国人《黑客帝国》和《指环王》至少看过一个，都认识Hugo,可他们不认识这样的Hugo，堪称专业的变装表演，最后又演技炸裂。”will you have a boyfriend when we back"之后的表情变化，细腻之极。又高又瘦的fragile flower，三人组旅行的发起人，年纪在中间，最热爱drag queen 的事业，动不动就排练，态度也最中庸，他说“虽然知道世道不易，but it still hurts."他不会主动打扮成变装皇后去勾男，但遇到事了他也不会冲在最前面，他是性格最温和的一个，调和着戏精Felicia和愤青Bernadette之间的关系，可他也有着最大的难处，一个中年有家庭的gay的情况是最复杂的，可他也很幸运，有那么好的家人。

2 Bernadette--Terence Tramp

Bernadette是个trans, 可是她却最有种，硬核化解了三人组的两次危机，金句王，经历的最多，也活得最通透，而且能言善辩，第一次的酒吧危机，我身边的观众都为她的发言鼓掌。对于变装表演，她没有Mitzi那么喜欢，但她生活中真的特别正面，沙漠里暴走去找救援，而彼时佛系的Mitzi在排练，热情如火的Felicia在刷车。生活对Bernadette很难，但她学会了坦然面对，而且正面硬刚，简直勇气与智慧的化身

3 Felicia——Guy Pearce

Guy最年轻，最gay,最戏精，最像现在我身边很多公开出柜的gay，百无禁忌，毒舌，表现欲强，一直如此也没什么，可他纵有一身肌肉他的脆弱却在被open bar那些人攻击的时候一览无余，他率性而活，却没想到在澳洲中部保守地区，他是完全不被接受的，那一瞬间的惊恐是那么真实。最后他和Mitzi的abba变装极其精彩，而且很有chemistry。Felicia是很出彩的一个角色，Guy也完成的相当好，他的漂亮肌肉和女性化的动作完美诠释了一个年轻的fearless gay man，如果他生活在今天的澳洲应该会很快乐。

我很喜欢这部电影，很好笑，也很完美的展示了变装皇后是怎样的一种职业，他们面对的有理解支持，但也有残酷的攻击谩骂，可他们没有放弃追寻，生活的意义。Although it hurts, paint it over and move on. Les, Gay, Bi, Trans, we are all 100% human. We are the same. We are equal.

电影里有些很好玩的场景，比如身高188的Hugo穿着高跟鞋和拖鞋裙子上街，所有人都只到他肩膀，人群中一个耀眼的火烈鸟。比如Felicia跑到音像店要买Texas什么什么的时候，背后的海报是HugoWeaving的电影Frauds的海报，右下角的小人是Hugo。

Fairwell Queens, you're gorgeous.