Shortly after moving in, Sacha stumbles upon Dan enjoying a glass of wine while in drag. Dan confides that he has been privately cross-dressing for years. He hoped his wife would understand, but she took their child and left him. Dan invites Sacha to his public drag debut at a midnight cabaret. Sacha politely declines as he will be busy hiding in his room all night. Unfortunately, Dan’s big night ends in a drag disaster. To make matters worse, some a*****e co-workers from his office were there and recorded the lipstick calamity on their phones. The pace starts and stays at a standstill for the first half of Makeup. This is not a slow burn; it is wet kindling. Boring, boring, boring, boring. Andre insists on applying panoramic detail to the dullest acts of minutiae. Nothing of any importance occurs in the first act at all. The director might as well have left the lens cap on throughout the setup. The story only begins to twitch occasionally in the second act as we trudge through the aftermath of the male burlesque performance. During this time, the role of Sacha is used sparingly as comic relief. Unfortunately, he just isn’t funny. Andre needs to study the work of Albert Brooks to learn how to draw humor from tension.
Only in the third act does the film loosen up with everyone smoking a big fat joint. From here on, the movie finally becomes watchable. However, it is too late to save the ship from sinking. There is some fun to be had on the way to a cold watery grave. As excruciating as the ramp-up is, the finale made me smile. Whether that was relief from the pain stopping is debatable. While the foundation of the screenplay is in ruins, the performances are worthwhile. Masheter is remarkable in his ability to project butch when protecting himself at work and then explode into femme in private. His characterization catches a rare complexity and rings true. Andre’s acting really can only be appreciated near the end, when he slips an extra dimension onto the single one he paddles through the majority of the runtime. He obviously can act but needs to write himself some better material. Makeup feels like short that has been padded out into a feature, as we have 15% fun to an 85% useless ratio. As uneven as it is, it’ll hold your attention until the end. It’s like an off-brand bag of nacho tortilla chips that barely have any cheese flavor, but you eat them anyway. After a while, you just keep chewing in order to finish.
title: “Makeup Featured Reviews Film Threat” ShowToc: true date: “2024-04-29” author: “Mary Dunaway”
Immediately Sacha goes about his day on his job, visiting restaurants. When he returns home, he hears a strange noise coming from Dan’s room and discovers Dan in full-drag makeup… as Danielle. Startled, Sacha backs away, trying to make sense of the situation.To soothe the situation, Dan invites Sacha to one of his performances. During the show, some of Dan’s co-workers are in the audience and he fears repercussions at work the following day. Makeup is a story of life’s outcasts. Sacha has been exiled from the restaurant community in France. Emotionally and psychologically beaten, he is trying to start fresh. On the other hand, Dan is trying to live two lives. “The tightly-dressed businessman is working hard to earn a living and pay his bills.” Then there’s Danielle. Danielle is full of life and gets to open up and express herself. Here, Dan can reconnect with his love of dance, which he developed as a youth.
I almost prefer these stories to be told at an independent level rather than have Big Hollywood abscond with the story. Being an independent film, Makeup is Hugo Andre and Will Masheter’s story. Theirs and only theirs. It’s heartfelt and very personal. That feels much more authentic. All a big studio would do is foist a stack of notes telling the pair how their story should be spoon fed to modern audiences. As a film, Makeup can feel slow and meticulous. It hits on the idea that those areas in our lives that make up differences should be stifled away…hidden from view. As in both life and the movies, this constant act of hiding oneself means that you’ll get exposed at precisely the wrong time. For Dan, he finds that embracing Danielle is the best way to “come out,” as it were. He makes no apologies and encourages friends and co-workers to see Danielle for who she is. Ultimately Makeup, is about a friendship that starts unexpectedly and evolves throughout the story. Andre portrays the character of Sacha as an introverted person who has been through many hardships in life and relationships in France. However, he must work through his feelings and confusion to form a bond with Dan/Danielle. Having seen a significant number of LGBT films over the past decade, I can say that Makeup‘s story isn’t exactly new, but what sets it apart from the pack is that the guiding force behind the story is how friendship can be forged in the most unlikely circumstances, and how friends stand up and support one another.
