Fortunately, lately there seems to be a moratorium on films that demean the LGTBQ+ experience for tragedy and accolades. There’s also been a shift toward authenticity, especially with regard to the casting of trans actors for trans roles, and both factors support and hinder photographer Luke Gilford’s feature debut, a film as rich in personality as a snapshot of Diane Arbus, but dramatically and about as sharp as a result of High school musical. In another year, this might be more of a problem than it actually is, because perhaps more coincidence than design, National anthem comes at a time when anything it celebrates is under attack, and such a low-key affirmation of personal growth and freedom could be what we really need right now.
The star of the story is a young man named Dylan (Lean on Piet‘s Charlie Plummer, in a very similar role), who lives with his single mother Fiona and little brother Cassidy in the far reaches of New Mexico. To help his mother with the family finances, Dylan looks for work as an unskilled laborer and stands in line with all the migrant workers outside the drug store. That’s how he ends up in The House of Splendor, a farm run by Pepe (Rene Rosado) and Sky (Eve Lindley) that serves as a walk-through center for the weird and wonderful and is about to open your eyes make – in more ways than one. .
What Dylan discovers is the world of “queer rodeo,” an otherwise quintessential celebration of all things Western that rejects the traditional stereotype of the macho cowboy. Dylan meets people who can be men, women, both or neither, but the most refreshing aspect of it National anthem is that gender chaos is ever-present and wholeheartedly embraced. For a while there’s the faintest hint that it’s all in Dylan’s head, especially when a flash mob of queens gather at the drugstore, American honeyStyle, and Sky give it a makeover with shimmery red eyeshadow. Does this country boy really know what’s going on here? After a day of toadstools on the farm, it seems he certainly does in a surprisingly shabby threesome with Pepe and Sky.
The sex brings us to the heart of the matter, starts the plot and emphasizes that Gilford’s film would be better off without sex. As Pepe grows jealous, Dylan walks with one of the farm’s more advanced characters, a blonde Jean Harlow with a tattoo of the word on her neck SEX. She paints a picture of the farm as a haven and idyll, and describes drag as “a way for me to show myself”. Family has so far been an unspoken line, but while this talk of the farm as a community for the lost and lonely opens the wound of Dylan’s absent father, the tone is more melancholy and poignant than an unequivocal admonition to join the circus to come and run. .
The driving force is Dylan’s love for the charismatic heaven, played by Lindley as an attractive combination of playfulness and worldliness, and whether Pepe’s casual appearance might hide an angry tinge of jealousy (spoiler: it doesn’t). In the place of conflict of any kind, the love triangle remains in place until a somewhat clever act of God convinces Dylan that he is better off looking for his own love.
On the one hand, the almost total lack of friction given the setting is something very special in a film where excuses fly more freely than fists and Dylan’s alcoholic mother doesn’t immediately burst into flames when Dylan brings home a child Cassidy in a dress . But on the other hand, the layers have real texture here, especially in an eclectic and believable cast reminiscent of the ensemble of John Cameron Mitchell’s unexpectedly endearing minibus.
National anthem seriously struggles with his attempts to weave her into the story – there is a lot of montage and a bit too much long karaoke – and the sudden discovery of a gay subculture in front of the eyes of working-class Americans is a sad reminder of the time Homer Simpson realized A Steel Mill there was also a gay bar in Springfield. But there’s a sweetness and simplicity to the see-and-see philosophy that’s likely to make this festival a crowd-pleaser.
Title: National anthem
Festival: SXSW, Narrative Spotlight
Director: Luke Gilford
Screenwriter: David Largman Murray, Kevin Best, Luke Gilford
Form: Charlie Plummer, Rene Rosado, Eve Lindley
Time: 1 hour 39 minutes
Source: Deadline
Bernice Bonaparte is an author and entertainment journalist who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a passion for pop culture and a talent for staying up-to-date on the latest entertainment news, Bernice has become a trusted source for information on the entertainment industry.
