CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Griff Lees Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

barbarampagan The preformance of "billy" wow how talented . Amazing production . My respects to the director and writers . The only thing is i press play on this movie cause i saw BETT MIDLERs name on it and im so glad i did . Im in love with the freak show great movie . It so much like days are in realyty . Recspect please no bulling at schools.

elenaprusova This movie, even being shot quite brightly, in a classic teenage style and without dark sulky mood, makes people think about serious things. Unlike Un Bacio of Ivan Cotroneo, the end is happy, but unfortunately the real end of real gay people can be quite sad. I hope the world goes towards tolerance, and thanks to such movies as well.

Red-125 Freak Show (2017) was directed by Trudie Styler. It stars Alex Lawther as Billy Bloom, who arrives on his first day at a new high school dressed as Boy George. (We are to understand that this conservative school is in the South. Why would it be called Ulysses S. Grant High School?)In any case, what happens to Billy in fiction is all too similar to what really happens to students who are different from the norm-- they get bullied, they get hurt, and they become isolated. However, Billy won't give in. The plot really starts when Billy decides to run for Homecoming Queen.This is an interesting movie with solid acting, including that by superstar Bette Midler as Billy's mother.However, you need to be aware that the movie has Young Adult Novel written all over it. And, indeed, it's based on a YA novel by James St. James.Just because a movie is based on a YA novel doesn't mean that it doesn't have interest or value. I enjoyed the film, which had great costumes and some clever plot twists. It isn't the most subtle film in the series, but it's worth seeing. (It will work almost as well on the small screen.)We saw this movie in the excellent Dryden Theatre at Rochester's George Eastman Museum. It was shown as the Closing Night Feature of ImageOut, the great LGBT Film Festival. (This was the NYS Premiere screening. How does ImageOut carry that off?)

randyleedunbar Outfest closed out this summers festival with a lovely movie called Freak Show, marking the directorial debut of Trudie Styler. Based on the 2007 novel by James St. James, the story follows the teenage years of Billy Bloom, a funny, good-hearted, cross-dressing teen who becomes the new student at an ultra-conservative high school. Although accosted with Bible believing cheerleaders, the jocks, the bullies, Billy takes a stand. Determined to be who he is and not bow to peer pressure, he refuses to change his outlandish outfits or behavior. Instead, he decides to run for Homecoming Queen for outcasts and underdogs everywhere. Within this framework Billys life revolves around these relationships: his mother, father, Flip Kelly, Blah, Blah. Blah (she talks so fast he never quite gets her name) and Florence. But let's talk about Billy. As played by Alex Lawther (last seen in the Imitation Game) this is performance nothing less than Oscar worthy. He is in every scene and he plays Billy with such conviction (starting with the fact he British) that it is often painful to watch. His face is nothing less than a canvas on which to draw whatever emotion is required; in some scenes, he almost seems to become a mime channeling Guiletta Masina (look her up!). It is powerful performance and even as it is about being fabulous ("I normally take being-over dramatic as a compliment") he always has something behind the look that feels real and vulnerable. There is no shortage of teenage films about high school (from Rebel Without a Cause to Twilight) and the cruelty encountered in those years. It is legendary and in Freak Show, there is ample violence, bullying and harassment to make one feel very uncomfortable—and that may be its point. As diercted by Trudie Styler it never crosses that line of being didactic or message-driven, it simply tells the story with grace. With appearances by Bette Midler, Abigail Breslin, Laverne Cox, John McEnroe, Larry Pine and most notably Celia Weston as Florence, Freak Show seems perfect for the moment. A film about standing ground in the face of adversity, being true to one's self at all costs, Freak Show was the perfect way to end a film festival about the diverse and the changing landscape of the LGBT community.