The Cockettes
Dir: Bill Weber, David Weissman
2002
***
The Cockettes were a fascinating and flamboyant group whose riotous behavior is synonymous with performance art, Drag, San Francisco's Gay rights movement, psychedelia, community living and Counter Culture. Their influence is vast. The talking head interviews are interesting but only Goldie Glitters and Jilala resemble the outrageous flamboyance you'd expect from a member of the group. No one really dishes any dirt or offers the kind of gossip you'd expect and the documentary style is stale. The Cockettes deserved something a little more lavish than this surely? The archive footage is brilliant though, the film took three years to put together which can't have been easy, although for all the editing, you'd think the talking heads segments would have been placed more strategically and a better conclusion found than simply revealing what Dusty Dawn's baby now looks like as a grown Man. It's a history lesson with little heart, I learnt everything that probably needs knowing about the phenomenon but sense that there was so much more to the story. The film was nominated for many awards back in 2002 and while there is nothing wrong with it, I'm glad to say documentaries have upped their game since.