DIr: Sophie Dupuis | Drama Canada 2023
Reviewed by Peter Herbert
SOLO focuses on Simon, a performer on the Canadian Montreal drag queen scene who is dealing with family dynamics and a uneasy relationship with another drag queen which will pose the question: is he better off in a duet with another or life and performance as a solo?
Over the years there have been highly successful films including Some Like it Hot, Victoria, Victoria or Le Cage Aux Folles which all managed to cross over into the mainstream, linking drag queen/cross dressing imagery and themes with exceptional narrative ingenuity. SOLO is from a newer indie film strand that is more interested in character and identityissues rather than strong narrative structure. Recent films of this more naturalistic trend include Sungbin Byun’s Pea Fowl, (2022), Sally El Hosaini’s Unicorns (2023) and Amron Al-Kadhis’s Layla (2024).
SOLO will interest viewers who enjoy the new drag queenscene with convincing on/off stage imagery that sometimes feels like the drive behind the film although the film’s real focus is placed on the character of Simon played by Theodore Pellerin.
Directed by Sophie Dupuis with feminine sensitivity this is a sincere and nuanced performance by Pellerin recalling the central axis of Ellis Howard as Max in What it Feels Like for a Girl or Ruaridh Mollica in Sebastien as key characters holding together wider ranging LGBT issues and themes.
SOLO contains a well observed ensemble of subsidiary characters. This includes Felix Maritand as Simon’s on off drag queen boyfriend and his performance feels and looks like it could be the natural outcome of what would happen to hischaracter as a very young feral sex worker in Suavage (2018). SOLO contains an intriguing undercurrent involving the ego of performers and the sweat and tears behind sawdust and tinsel of life on and off the stage. PeterHerbert
IN UK CINEMAS from FRIDAY