Benjamin Smoke

2000 musical documentary

Rating: 14/20

Plot: Sometimes touching and intimate documentary about Southern white trash drag queen Richard Dickerson as he fronts his band Smoke and battles AIDS.

This portrait of the artist as a dying man is somewhat difficult to watch. Watching people die, I guess, isn't supposed to be fun. The music's good, and the directors do a good job of allowing "Benjamin" to come to life in his own way by letting the camera just watch him live. Or try his best to live. Loosey-goosey and wandering, it winds up being an intimate portrayal of an eccentric able to put a few check marks next to items on his "must do" list before death. Pretty cool.

I'm vacationing. No picture.