Worth: $15.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Various
Intro:
…tragic undertones, but masterfully captures the brimming enthusiasm of trail-blazing drag queens in the late 1950s.
After unearthing a collection of 60-year-old letters in a storage room, producer Craig Olsen, alongside directors Michael Seligman and Jennifer Tiexiera, unveil a pioneering chapter of New York’s stigmatised drag scene, circa 1950s.
The film beautifully captures the exuberance and rebellion that defined drag queens in the 1950s, or ‘female impersonators’ as they preferred to be called, as it connotes elegance and style. Given the illegality of cross-dressing, these performers were ostracised by society, and faced a punishing legal system.
The drag community is represented through the mysterious identity of the author behind these letters. They are all curiously addressed to a disc jockey named Reno Martin, who later became a famous Hollywood agent. Interviews with a wide range of drag queens, now mostly aged in their 80s and 90s, regale with remarkable detail and passion of their sartorial choices, but also how they coped with stifling laws. In doing so, the film makes a calculated effort to piece together their recollections with an historical context that may indicate the scribe.
These letters are vividly brought to life with animated hand-writing over colourful backdrops reminiscent of the time period. To accompany this, the voiceover compellingly encapsulates the varied emotions involved in having one’s personality suppressed. On the one hand, an ostentatious tone matches the gossipy news heard around clubs, while another letter that is typed out, is met with a formal and downbeat tone, as the mysterious writer is at their desk-job blending in with societal norms.
Although the impetus is discovering the mystery author, the interviewees prove highly fascinating themselves. They are presented with archival photos and newspaper headlines regarding their escapades. Claude Diaz, for instance, fills with triumph in describing how he evaded police while stealing valuable wigs at the Metropolitan Opera. However, he wells up with tears in seeing old photos of drag queens, but as the memories flood back, he has to remind himself that that period is “over”. These real-time reactions provide a poignancy about the sacrifices they made to express themselves, but is also a radiant celebration of the unabashed fun that they once had.
P.S Burn These Letters Please has tragic undertones, but masterfully captures the brimming enthusiasm of trail-blazing drag queens in the late 1950s.
