Casa Roshell (2017)

This is a documentary that pretty much does what it says on the can. It takes us within the walls of an out of the way bar where, once the sun goes down, the lights come up and the eponymous Roshell Terranova provides a stage for Mexican men who range from the traditional drag artiste through to those with more existential gender issues. Whilst there isn’t any persecution from the authorities about what they are doing, there isn’t really much trade, as it were, either so most of her custom comes from regulars out to get dolled up to the nines and let their hair down. What doesn’t work so well is that many of them play to the camera. Now some of that comes across in a totally natural fashion, especially when some are applying what appears to be some industrial scale make-up, but other elements do look more staged for the film and that serves to compromise some of the authenticity of this. That said, though, there are some real characters here with some pithy and earthy stories to tell, and there is some singing that even a mother might struggle to love. Camila José Donoso couldn’t have had much of a budget, and that shows with the lighting and the audio, but this very rudimentary style of filming shows us that glamour isn’t so much about glitz as it is about personality, charisma and attitude.