Revisiting this 90s flamboyant drag cult made from Down Under, a trio of drag performers, two drag queens, Mitzi (Weaving) and Felicia (Pearce) and a trans-woman Bernadette (Stamp), embarks on a road trip on their titularly coined bus, from Sydney to the outback to perform their routines, en route, they meet multifarious people (whose reaction ranging from beneficent, gobsmacked, impassive, miffed to violent, and the juxtaposition between the aborigine and the white hicks is piercingly sharp) and each has his/her own generational revelation to cope with by the time their four-week-stint ends.Felicia, a sassy whippersnapper played by a sinewy Guy Pearce in his breaking-out cinema role, who constantly squabbles with Bernadette and has to learn his lesson in a hard way after he has a narrow escape from hate-crime induced mutilation, and Pearce is barnstorming to a fault, as if he is too self-aware of his orthodox masculine appearance, which he compensates with a patina of overlown effeminate affectation and posturing that runs to distracting, as we know that queer and masculine don't necessarily exclude each other, perceivably, he is the weakest link in the fold.Hugo Weaving's Mitzi, acting more natural in his persona's stage/private distinction, carries a more weighty responsibility when we realize he is married to a woman and they have an eight-year-old son Benji (Holmes), the burden of guilt and shame is what weighs down on every nonconformist being's soul, his tentative attempt to reconnect with Benj engages with a tender vulnerability that precariously avoids becoming saccharine, which says a lot about the performer's emotive strength. Nevertheless, the best performance unequivocally comes from Terence Stamp, whose Bernadette is long in the tooth, but she proves that wisdom, dignity and snide quips are amassed through years of hardened self-preservation against side-eyes and brandishing fists, Stamp embodies her with superlative poise larded with subtle cynicism and utter phlegm, which makes Bernadette's romantic kindling with a rough diamond Bob (Hunter) more like an unexpected boon than a hackneyed plot maneuver. The show must go on, and for a drag troupe of three, lip-syncing of queer-friendly iconic hits (Charlene's I'VE NEVER BEEN ME is an infectious show opener, which would be dusted off in Lynne Ramsay's YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE 2017, and rendered an idiosyncratically poignant effect) is just a one trick pony doesn't offer much variations, so their pageantry lives and dies with its gaudy, zany, eye-popping, varicolored, Oscar-winning apparel, particularly when being put into use against the vast topography in the middle of nowhere, and the crowning moment on the top of King's canyon, that majesty feeling of being unique in a cosmic world is so refreshing and life-affirming. Lastly, one cannot stress this enough, it is an unqualified relief that director/writer Stephan Elliott sticks to his guns with a less dramatic leitmotif to anchor his tragedy-prone subject matter in the most gracious way one can probably conceive, PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT is truly, a hoot and a half.

In honor of pride month, I decided to watch a movie I could not believe I have never seen before. That movie is of course the adventures of Priscilla Queen of the desert. I can honestly say that it is one of the best LGBTQ films ever made. And just because this is an LGBTQ movie doesn't mean that that's all that it's, it's not. It's is a road trip movie about these three individuals. It's stars Hugo Weaving, Guy Pearce and Terence Stamp. Weaving and Pierce play to gay drag queens and Terence Stamp plays an aging transgender woman. They all three decide to get in a bus that they have named Priscilla and drive across the desert to some drag shows they will be performing in in a town called Alice Springs. On this road trip they come across many things: homophobic assaults, they learn secrets about one another, and they get to know each other better through deep meaningful conversations. That's why I call it a touching road trip movie sprinkled with comedy, it is not strictly a comedic film, I would first call it a drama before I would a comedy. The acting is really what holds this movie up, along with the good dialogue and the fantastic costumes (for which the film won an academy award). The one that really shines the most in this movie is Terence Stamp, his performance as the transgender woman Bernadette was absolutely flawless, personally I think he should've gotten an Academy Award nomination. Hugo weaving and Guy Pearce were also very very good in their roles, it's just that Terence stamp really outshined everyone. Guy Pearce was not only very good looking in this role, but he was also very flamboyant and cheery character, so he was kind of the comedic relief of the film, not that the movie was making fun of his being gay or being flamboyant, he was just a very funny character, which was good because it's always good to have a balance of good touching drama with some comedy. The costuming absolutely deserved that Academy award win, they were fabulous and just perfect for the drag shows. The soundtrack is great too. All in all, this is a very well made film and I suggest it to any and everyone. 9/10. Happy Pride Month everyone!!

I am still smiling ... This is a light, fun film. A comedy, I guess with elements of a musical - though I remember only three or four songs: Finally by CeCe Peniston, I will survive by Gloria Gaynor and Save the best for last by Vanessa Williams. PENISton and GAYNor must have been chosen on purpose.Guy Pierce is really great. I saw him last in the movie Momento ...and here, he is so believable! You can not believe this guy is really straight.I actually expected a film with Patrick Swaysie and Wesley Snipes, but it must be some other film about drag queens... Anyway, a really fun and relaxing film. Eight from me.

Three professional drag queens -- the curious-looking Weaving, the muscular Pearce, and the aging Stamp -- decide to leave Sidney for a gig in the town of Alice Springs in the middle of nowhere. What follows is a road trip out of "The Electric Koolade Acid Test." They make no secret of their gender orientation. On their journey through the vast desert they encounter puzzlement and prejudice. Their performance in Alice Springs wins no prizes but Weaving acquires the cheerfully accepting wife and son he'd left behind, and Stamp can quit worrying about wrinkles because he's found a nice, good-natured bloke to settle down with.I'd imagine that one of the problems in making (or appreciating) a movie like this is what you do after the initial shock of seeing three guys prance around in fancy costumes wears off. Stephen Elliott, the writer/director, has generally gotten past the problem. The three guys are soon individualized. Weaver is the anxious, uncertain guy with the odd ball eyebrows. Pearce is flamboyant and chipper. Stamp is somber and worried about what will happen now that his looks have faded.But turning three fairies into persons is the easy part. "The Boys In The Band" did it with a snap of the fingers. The tough part is laying out a story with some substance to it. Otherwise the viewer is liable to be bored listening to the bitchy insults and improbable displays. Elliott and the cast give the story just enough juice to get us all through it happily, aided immeasurably by the incandescent magnificence of the Australian outback. You have never seen such sere and blasted vistas. Well, not since "Lawrence of Arabia".What really worried me was that this effervescent flick would turn "serious" in the end -- sentimental and sloppy. You know -- one of the trio is beaten to death or contracts AIDS or something. It doesn't happen. I grovel in gratitude.And how do the boys handle the roles? Pretty well, as far as that goes. Their act consists of appearing on stage in kaleidoscopically gaudy outfits and make up and making believe they are singing and dancing to a recorded song. The songs aren't bad, by the way. You won't get boiler maker's gap from listening to disco or pop songs from the 40s. Stamp and his frown look completely out of place under a mop of plastic hair. His settling down was little loss to the act. Weaving doesn't look bad as a prismatically groomed young woman. And Pearce doesn't look bad at all until you get down to the muscles, which remind you that he is a more slender simulacrum of Arnold Schwarzenegger. There used to be shows like theirs at the now-defunct Finnochio's in San Francisco, a tourist spot frequented by celebrities for some thirty years. I had a chat with the actor Thomas Gomez there.It's an interesting film, never really boring, and gorgeously photographed. It's a kind of lesson in how to construct a good time out of nothing much. They have a lot of fun, and if they get punched in the face by some redneck, they cry and sulk for a while but soon get over it.