Epicurus.com - Paris Is Burning

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Manufacturer: Fox Lorber
Starring: Carmen and Brooke, Avis Pendavis, Pepper LaBeija, Willi Ninja, AndrÃ© Christian
Directed By: Jennie Livingston

Average Customer Rating:

Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786304326282
Format: Color
ISBN: 6304326289
Label: Fox Lorber
Manufacturer: Fox Lorber
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Fox Lorber
Release Date: 1997-02-25
Running Time: 78
Studio: Fox Lorber
Theatrical Release Date: 1991-08

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Editorial Reviews:

Paris Is Burning closes with two neon-lit boys holding each other on the streets of Harlem. One looks into the camera and asks, "So this is New York City and what the gay lifestyle is all about--right?" This documentary takes an honest, humorous, and surprisingly poignant peek into one of America's overlooked subcultures: the world of the urban drag queen. It's a parallel dimension of bizarre beauty, where "houses" vie like gangs for turf and reputation ... only instead of street-fighting, they vogue their way down makeshift catwalks in competitive "balls." The only rule of the ballroom: be real.

In surprisingly candid interviews, you discover the grace, strength, and humor it takes to be gay, black, and poor in a straight, rich, white world. You'll meet young transsexual "cover girls," street hustlers saving up for the big operation, and aging drag divas reminiscing about the bygone days of sequins, feathers, and Marilyn Monroe.

Made in the late 1980s, this fashion-conscious film shows its age less than you'd expect. It's still a great watch for anyone interested in the whole range of humanity, or anyone who's ever been an outsider, desperately wanting something the world hides out of reach. --Grant Balfour

Spotlight customer reviews:

Customer Rating:

Summary: paris is burning
Comment: I loved it. reminds me so much of growing up on the streets of downtown L.A. i wish they had a part 2 10yrs later but most of them are no longer with us its sad... i have seen this vedio 20 times since i got it i give it a A+ LOVE IT

Customer Rating:

Summary: A Time that Was
Comment: "Paris is Burning"

A Time that Was

Amos Lassen and Cinema Pride

One of the best reviewed documentaries about gay life has finally found its way to DVD, "Is Paris Burning" by Jenny Livingston. This documentary about gay, black and Hispanic men who are transsexuals or transvestites is absolutely riveting. The beauty of the film is that director Livingston takes a subject that could very easily become a laughing matter and freak show and shows the true humanity of the people in the film. We hear from their mouths their views on being gay, about the people in their lives and those they want in their lives, about what their dreams are and we learn of their disappointments.
This is not a movie about men that dress in female clothing; it is about a marginalized segment of society and the things they do to have a feeling of community. It is a commentary on the materialism in our culture and deals with gender roles, about the differences between the rich and the poor and what the media selects for us, as a culture, to worship. It is very humane and very sad at the same time.
Many of the people in the movie are no longer with us but I have been told that the ballroom scene, as depicted here, is very much alive. Originally released in 1990, the movie is now 17 years old but it is still a revelation. The "vogueing" houses of New York have become an integral part of gay life and have been around for decades. Here is a film that focuses on an aspect of our lives that probably could have gone ignored so the movie has historical importance.
The film begins in 1986 when blacks and Hispanic drag queens held "balls" where they would dress up however they wanted and would display their outfits and be ranked by voting. We get a change to meet the participants and see how they hold together and give each other support. We understand the importance of this community when one says to another, "You have three strikes against you--you're black, gay and a drag queen". The only place they seem to be accepted is at their balls. The guys here are well aware of their position in society. They all live in "houses" run by various "mothers" and they each help the other.
The film is most definitely a period piece--the New York of the film is no more but the balls are still held but that same community spirit is gone. In doing research on the film, I learned that Madonna actually got the idea of vogueing from the houses. It seems that the vogue allowed people to fight with each other within the confines of everything but touch which would bring about an automatic disqualification from one of the houses. The vogues were spectacular. It did not matter who you were or where you came from, the moment you entered a house, you entered a magic kingdom and you became bigger than you really were and you were your own creation. Here we see a group of men who embraced their ideals passionately.
"Paris is Burning" is a movie about real people, a real time and a real place but more than that it is a movie about courage--courage to live life the way one wants to live it regardless of consequences. It is not strange that the majority of participants were from minority groups. The theme of behavior modification shows that it was the only way that they could be themselves. We see to what extent a person will go to be accepted in a country that allows racism and homophobia.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Fascinating and disturbing.
Comment: I saw this in 1990 in the theatre and rewatch it every year because of the unique people and infectious quotes. Love it!

Customer Rating:

Summary: IT'S IN LETTERBOX, and it's good
Comment: It's old, and so many of the people have died, but it's a great documentary.

It's also in letterbox, unlike what Amazon is stating it being in a pan-and-scan state.

mike

Customer Rating:

Summary: FUNNY AND SAD DOCUMENTARY
Comment: This is a sub-culture with a minority that I was previously unaware of. The movie is a time capsule of a certain time in a certain place with a particular and peculiar group of gay men and their hangers-on who primped and pranced for their own ideas of glamour and class and who are sometimes outrageous and unreal in their comments on society and the straight AND gay world of NYC.

Some of the performers came to a very sad and grissly deaths and it is a comment on society that those with so little and tried to get and give so much of their very limited means came to sometimes very sticky demises.

There is so much young life and potential wasted in these voguing balls that one can only hope that the phenomenon has been relegated to the pages of history.

The actors/performers/drag artists-artistes are sometimes extremely funny and trenchant in what they have to say and it is a movie that is sometimes hard to watch and at other times an absolute "hoot".

Not for the squeamish or the judgmental, this movie is a classic of its type and is not only entertainment but a sociological study of a minority within a minority.

Timothy Wingate OTTAWA CANADA

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