Paris Is Burning Intertwines Movement With Intimate Interviews To An Astonishingly Powerful Effect

You ever watch a movie and know in your heart of hearts that you're watching something special? That's how I felt while experiencing Paris Is Burning for the first time. I was well aware of this 1991 documentary from director Jennie Livingston being a highly acclaimed motion picture and also being considered one of the all-time great pieces of queer cinema, but prior to watching it for the first time, I was otherwise totally in the dark on what exactly kind of plot or subject matter it covered. That turned out to be an ideal way to enter Paris Is Burning, whose many virtues unfolded before with a glorious sense of newness, it was like managing to open a wonderful gift on Christmas morning without managing to be spoiled on what it is.


This documentary chronicles footage captured in 1989 of the New York City Ball scene. Balls are competitive events that see members of the LGBTQA+ community joining up in various teams to dress up in various types of attire (certain competitions have themed clothing, like Military, for instance) while engaging in forms of dance and other impressive physical feats known as posing. It's a spectacular affair that uses minimal resources to create something truly impressive, especially since the confidence and physical abilities of the participants of these Balls is utterly remarkable. Though assorted sequences where Jennie Livingston simply films the Balls makes the scrappy glitz and glamour of these events as apparent as the color of the sky, her interview segments with participants of the dance makes the underlying importance of these Balls similarly evident.

Fascinating interviews with individuals like Will Ninja and Dorian Corey, makes it clear that, in these Balls, a paradise is found. People who constantly are being told by society to dial down who they are can be as grandiose as they want while many who typically have little in the way of an actual family or home get to have people who look out for them. In Paris Is Burning, the community part of the phrase LGBTQA+ community gets defined and emphasized by both splashy sequences set at the Balls and especially in the more intimate interview segments with people involved in these competitions. What's especially amazing about the interview portions of Paris Is Burning is just how well, with only minimal amounts of screentime, the film is able to establish distinct personalities for individual interview participants.

Much like snowflakes, no two members of the LGBTQA+ community are alike and this is beautifully yet subtly reflected in so many ways throughout Paris Is Burning, including in the decision to make sure an array of different types of individuals are interviewed by Livingston and the films crew. We get to hear people of differing ages, economic backgrounds, sexualities and gender identities all get to have their chance to talk to off-screen interviewers and explain who they are. In everyday situations, these individuals have to close themselves off to the world, but in both the Balls and in Paris is Burning, they're allowed to fully be their true selves and express their deepest hopes & desires. Much like the Balls themselves, Paris is Burning turns into a sanctuary for personal expression for those who rarely get the chance to express themselves.

Parts of these interviews shed light on what specifically the Balls mean to each interviewed subject, which helps to explain the deeper meaning behind certain fashion choices made in these all-important competitive events. This kind of intimate exploration makes the already transfixing Ball sequences all the more fascinating and is just one of so many ways that the humanity of the numerous people chronicled in Paris Is Burning is realized in such a vibrant fashion. This kind of balance between the interview segments and the splashier Ball segments, where one helps the other, is one of the best parts of the structure of Paris Is Burning. There's a surprisingly large amount of individual storylines and characters to be found in a documentary that runs just 78 minutes with credits, but Paris is Burning is such a well-oiled machine in terms of how it paces and structures itself that they all get time to shine in the spotlight.

My personal favorite characters in Paris Is Burning are...well, it's hard to narrow that down given the bevy of fascinating individuals found throughout the piece. That having been said, the reflective nature of the Dorian Corey interviews were utterly transfixing, she had a perspective on the changing nature of the Ball scene that I could have listened to all day. The saga of Venus Xtravaganza was similarly compelling to watch, a declaration that could really be applied to any of the assorted people interviewed for Paris Is Burning. This is a wonderful and unforgettable motion picture, one that resonates just as deeply as an ode to the humanity of the disenfranchised today as it did nearly thirty years ago. Even when nobody's dancing on-screen, Paris is Burning is so bursting with vibrant life that it's practically got its own pulse!