/Dressed As a Girl (2014).jpg)
/Dressed as a Girl (2015).jpg)
Dressed as a Girl
- Director: Colin Rothbart
- Producer: Chris Amos
CGiii Comment
It has all the quality and talent of a home movie...unavoidable on a micro-budget with an inexperienced filmmaker.
From the off, the film stumbles...being shot over 6 years and, presumably, accumulating a massive amount of footage...the structure is all over the place...especially in the early stages of the film.
But...bear with it. It settles...and takes you behind the mad-cap make-up and on-stage madness...to a realsim that is undercut with genuine sadness and an almost vitriolic truth.
Scotee, Pia and Amber have all stories that leave you wanting more...
And, Jonny Woo's aching unfulfillment has a ring of uncomfortable familiarity.
There are a few too many scenes that should not have made the final cut: Holestar's drag workshop is a catastrophe for her and the viewer, cringingly so. The hideous dinner with Amber's father...
But, rough and ready as Dressed as a Girl is...the crowd-pleasing successes and the heart-breaking failures will undoubtedly strike a resonant chord with most.
A fine - albeit shaky - film.
Trailer...
The(ir) Blurb...
Filmmaker Colin Rothbart pulls off the wigs, wipes off the mascara to unveil the real people behind the much hyped and talked about East London's alternative drag scene. Overeating, gender dysphoria, egos, excess. Following in the tradition of Paris Is Burning and The Cockettes, and DRESSED AS A GIRL is so much more than show-stopping performances. Filmed over five years, the film covers not only the rise and fall of this hugely popular gay club scene but also offers some personal, emotionally honest portraits of six individuals at the heart it. Fundamentally it's about the nature of friendship, life and even survival against the odds, universal themes that everyone can relate to.
Cast & Characters
Jonny Woo;
Amber Waze;
Pia Arber;
Scottee;
Holestar;
John Sizzle