The Queen

While it falls into the usual issues I have with 60s documentaries (shoddy 8mm footage and a bland editing style lacking in narrative cohesion), most dissappointing of all it feels incomplete; The last 10 minutes of the film hint at a much darker world beneath the glamourous service, a world of racial tension and alleged competition-rigging, only for the film to end instead of exploring what could've been a far more complex, nuanced and intriguing world than the one that we actually got to see.

As someone who lives in a permanent state of nostalgia for the New York that has vanished, I loved this as a picture of a moment in time. And there was a whole other possible documentary about Mme. Berthe's theatrical costume rental shop! Pauline Kael: "The film [...] has considerable humor and drama, as well as that mixture of perversity and sadness distinctive to the drag scene." Rather an understatement, considering the last 10 minutes ("Ladies and gentlemen, Miss Rachel Tensions!").

Interesting material but clumsy filmmaking. Justice for Crystal!

Wading waters of what would let us truly sink deeper with the likes of Paris is Burning.

Rivetting look into a pageant and the preparation for it in the 60's. Some of it felt a bit inconsequential, but it's really strong overall.