Jump, Darling: drag melodrama and family drama

Mar 16 2022.

by Drew Rowsome -photos supplied by Breaking Glass Pictures

Failed actor Russell (Thomas Duplessie) decides to switch careers and aspirations to become the drag queen Fishy Falters. Just before his scheduled debut onstage at the claustrophobic Peckers, his handsome and financially supporting live-in boyfriend Justin (Andrew Bushell) pops backstage to express his distaste for this change of goals. Fishy Falters, due to a combination of the weight of disapproval and excess alcohol, never makes it to the stage. Russell hugs their dog good-bye, packs up his make-up, and flounces off to rip off his ailing grandmother who lives in a large country house in picturesque Prince Edward County (a short montage will make the tourist board very happy). Life lessons and meditations on aging, striving for one's dreams, and the allure of drag, ensue.

The grandmother is played by the late Cloris Leachman (American Gods, Lake Placid 2) whose performance alone makes Jump, Darling worth seeing. But she is not the only legend captured on film, local drag stars Tynomi Banks, Miss Fiercalicious and Fay Slift (The Fabulous Show with Fay & Fluffy) also grace the screen. Slift nails an emotional monologue/pep talk urging Falters to decide if drag is really her destiny. Jump, Darling may have been Leachman's last film but it will also be remembered as Slift's first. Leachman was a master of the cutting quip (a style that thematically resonates with drag speak) but she also bares her soul and her fragility. She is heartbreaking and fabulous. Her wish to die at home instead of in a long term care facility is achingly felt. As well as the weight of her memories and the unconditional love she feels for her grandson.

The drag as transcendence theme is less clear-cut. We never really learn what makes Russell want to become Fishy. Duplessie is great with what he is given to work with, and is an adequete drag performer. He really shines in raucous red-hot performance set to Rough Trade's "High School Confidential." Of course this number works because, like in a well constructed musical, it drives the plot. Russell/Fishy has been seducing and/or seduced by Zachary (Kwaku Adu-Poku), the small town gay bar's busboy. Zachary's sexuality is in flux in private, not so much in public. He, like the previous boyfriend, seems to look down on drag and drag queens. He says that Russell seems "to like humiliation" and their sexual interaction is a one way street. When Fishy turns defiant by doing a drag version of a lesbian playing a straight sexpot, it is an eloquent and riveting "fuck you." And re-defines both their characters.

Russell's torment over his grandmother's predicament, and his role in it, is touching. Duplessie plays the nuances of guilt vs gain with a teddy bear with a stiletto smile. The drag desire is not as linear. While Fishy takes obvious joy in putting on her face and in thinking she is shocking, it remains on that surface level. The performances in Peckers are more realistic than glamorous, and there is no expectation that there will be a big production number finale where the queens ascend to superstardom. Slift's world-weary battle-scars concealed by sequins sets up Fishy's debut where the two plotlines dovetail. Russell salutes his grandmother but it is emotionally powerful mainly because Leachman is able to project great emotional depth through the screen. Her wrinkles and liver spots are the opposite of a drag queen's concealer and it is impossible to decide which is more beautiful.

Writer/director Phil Connell is passionate about both themes and almost manages to make them work in tandem. The grandmother hiding behind bravado and Russell hiding his insecurities with fake eyelashes and dance moves is a potent metaphor. Their instant acceptance of each other is charming, both actors are whimsically charismatic, but their shared sense of survival is elusive. Drag as artifice and emotional liberation has been explored winningly in Swan Song and Stage Mother, and Jump, Darling also attempts to mix dark stark emotional themes with the glory and camp of drag. Jump, Darling aims for that sweet spot between tears of a clown melodrama and tawdry backstage drama and almost makes it. A fitting send-off for an iconic actress.