‘Trixie Mattel: Moving Parts’ shows the darker side of drag

With comedic and acting chops, folk music style and a bright pastel closet, Trixie Mattel is the ultimate fantasy creation.

Trixie lives in the mind of Brian Furkis but as a drag character, Trixie, has become a beloved extension of a reserved introvert.

Trixie Mattel: Moving Parts is more than a documentary. It is a story of what it is like to be an artist for a specific audience and is lively, riveting and profound – on a par with musical documentaries like Shut Up and Sing, as well as Beyonce’s Homecoming.

It is a sombre look behind the scenes at how artists’ lives come with struggles and offsets, with eclipses of success.

What makes Trixie’s story so visceral is that it feels personal. While Trixie is the star, as Furkis, Moving Parts tells a story of someone who scratched their way out of poverty into a whirlwind limelight during the golden age of drag.

Trixie became a phenomenon after appearing on the seventh season of the pop culture TV show RuPaul’s Drag Race.

With an off-kilter sense of humour and a unique aesthetic, she became a fan favourite after being eliminated from the show.

It led to a hustle that included creating a hugely popular YouTube show UNHhhh with fellow Drag Race cast member Katya Zamolodchikova (Brian McCook) and recording a folk album Two Birds, which Billboard called one of 2017’s best albums. It reached No 2 on the Heatseekers Albums chart which highlights new or developing musicians.

In 2017 and 2018, Trixie was simultaneously writing and recording One Stone, the follow-up to Two Birds, shooting a weekly television series with Zamolodchikova, headlining a live tour in the US and UK and returning to TV to compete in the third season of RuPaul’s Drag Race: All Stars, which she won.

Zamolodchikova, meanwhile, was suffering a mental breakdown and relapse into methamphetamine addiction. This is where Moving Parts really becomes a soaring look into a unique world.

What the film expertly highlights is that marginalised groups, like lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex members are at higher risk of mental illness and a dependence on drugs because of the way society has shaped opinions. Also, how being judged on stage affects performers. Especially performers like Trixie.

The dynamic and duality of being a good friend to someone suffering from addiction and mental health problems is also at play.

The relationships every person faces while juggling a career and life; how to find balance, how to give someone space, how to support them.

But with this melancholy, the nine months director Nick Zeig-Owens spent with Trixie and Furkis also captures humour, a dazzling performer and a person who learned to build themselves.

If 2017 and 2018 was Trixie and Furkis’ roller coaster, 2019 has seen another meteoric rise.

Furkis launched his own makeup line, another album, a comedy special and is touring the world. The film is almost like a guide to the hustle, stress and success of being known.

It also touches on low-points we often so easily don’t consider. But what really shines through is artistry, the lives of art creators and how it influences the world.

In the case of Trixie, it also changes pop culture with razor-sharp commentary that cuts, but also heals.

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