We had no idea of what to expect from this intriguing documentary on Brian Firkus aka Trixie Mattel who, second time around, became a winner on Ru Paul’s Drag Race, albeit a rather controversial choice. Mattel is part of the current coterie of drag queens whose fame is based on their success rate on Ru Paul’s TV Show. She says at one point that this is the golden age of drag, which is totally unjustified. One look at the new documentary WIG about the revival of the iconic NY drag event Wigstock, clearly showed that the performers at the original event had so much more sheer talent and ingenuity than their successors who rely on the reality show fame.
However through the course of the documentary it became clear that we couldn’t dismiss Firkus/Trixie as just another outrageously overdressed mannequin By allowing the cameras unlimited access, we saw him anxiously practising his craft to ensure that he really entertained the packed houses he was playing too in the US and UK. He shared how his love of country music was the one happy result of his troubled childhood. The very impressive selection of songs he writes and plays are the last thing you expect to her from the lips of a drag star. With her blonde wigs piled higher than God, and her tightly fitted sparkly pinks outfits she could easily be mistaken for Dolly Parton’s’ long lost taller sister
Actually Brian/Trixie’s adopted sister is Katya Zamolodchikova aka Brian McCook a fellow drag performer with whom he made a very successful web series, which then became a TV series for Viceland. It was during the filming of the latter, that Katya had a breakdown and abruptly left, and all of this was captured by the documentary crew. It left Trixie in a deep quandary wondering is she could go back to performing on her own in one of most touching scenes of the film.
There are other very revealing parts of the documentary such as when Firkus is rifling through his latest batch of fan mail, several of which he reads out loud. Many are acknowledgements from people who consider him a role model, and as such have helped them turn their own lives around. Firkus saya out loud ‘ for some reason I attract a lot of people suffering with depression.’ We are as mystified as him about this.
By the end of the film our ignorance of Firkus/Trixie has turned into very definite admiration. There is no doubting his unique talent, but it is honesty and his determination to be authentic as possible that sets him apart from others.
One small grievance, the documentary directed by Nick Zeig-Owens was produced by World of Wonder who run the Drag Race shows, and there was a little too much heavy-handedness in ensuring their franchise’s reputation was as pure as the driven snow..
Labels: 2019, documentary, drag, Trixie Mattel
