I Am Divine (2013)

Personally - I think that a sleazy, low-life slob like drag queen, Glen Milstead, aka. "Divine" (whose biggest claim to fame was that he/she actually had the sickening audacity to eat a real dog turd on screen in the movie Pink Flamingos), hardly deserves having a documentary made about his/her sordid, little career as an ugly, gluttonous actor/actress who starred in shabby, self-indulgent, wannabe cult films.For the most part - This decidedly dead-end documentary (about a 350 lb, horror-show hippo) scraped the absolute bottom of the barrel in its pathetic attempt to be a cheery, little piece of informative and enlightening entertainment.To be honest - I really don't know why the heck I even bothered, in the first place, to watch this heap of crap about the "Queen of Filth" - 'Cause now that I have, I totally regret that I did.

This documentary seems to be more about how John Waters supposedly shaped the career of Divine, than about Divine herself. We see lots of talking heads from the Waters camp and their anecdotes about working and living with Divine. Waters himself comes across as a bit envious, taking digs at Divine, with that glib smug smirk of his. I don't think he ever got over the fact that Divine, made his career, and not vice versa. Surprisingly, Ricki Lake comes across as rather unpleasant when talking about Divine, too. Mink Stole expresses genuine kindness for Divine on a personal level (she's adorable). For good, or for bad, their interviews make it all the more obvious that the only true film star / pop icon amongst them was Divine.The film has a bit of television show feel about it. For my personal liking, there are too many clips from the Waters films, that Divine fans have probably seen a hundred times over. It takes up precious time that could have been dedicated to revealing something so far not seen or known about Divine. Everything is of course spiralling towards the "eat dog poo on camera" landmark moment. And of course, all credit for this "master stroke of genius" goes towards Waters (biased very much). I was very much expecting the singing career part of Divine to be elaborated upon, as to me it was her natural progression from her film work, where her Drag persona was further polished. But that part of her life is severely neglected in this documentary. In Europe, Divine is more so known for her music than her films. Her television performances on pop chart shows were on a par with some of the best of 80s music videos (dare I say far superior to the Waters movies). But there is not much evidence of that in this documentary. Probably there was only enough money to pay for the Waters camp to have a natter about the film years, and it's a wrap. Ready for the LGBT film festival circuit, and ready to be applauded by all the gullible fools who merely need an easy saccharine nostalgia fix. That's the unsatisfied feeling I was left with after watching it.

Find me a documentary that better explores an under rated actor and I will be amazed. This was perfection in every way. I saw it at the Sydney Film Festival with a packed house. The buzz in the room was electric from the first moment and it never stopped. The film told Divine's story powerfully, they didn't leave a thing out and interviewed everyone. There was no shying away from topics like Divine's bad spending habits or his eating, they shone a light on everything and showed this amazing sympathetic actor in the most beautiful light possible. Filled with huge laughs (I know I missed out on several lines of dialogue simply because people were laughing so hard) and an abundance of emotional resonance. This is the movie about Divine that the world deserved.

What an amazing movie. It far exceeded my expectations and didn't descend into sentimentality. The film explores the highs and lows of one of the top icons of America's underbelly. Divine and John Waters met as teenagers and soon started making cult classics including Pink Flamingos and Mondo Trasho. As Divine -- sorry. spoiler alert -- died he was on the cusp of hitting the big-time. My only niggle about this laugh- out loud feel-good documentary was how much of the film focused on his eating. We know he was fat and we know he died of a heart attack ahead of his time. Sometimes though the film veered off the celebration of a man who was a beacon for all outsiders and an under-rated actor and verged on ridiculing its subject. Despite that, this is a great film. It had the audience entranced and laughing from the start it was informative for all but the most dedicated Divine devotee. I'm ready to pre order the DVD now.