Stream It or Skip It: ‘Trixie Mattel: Moving Parts’ on VOD Is the Unflinching Drag Doc You Need to See

Plenty of drag queens have headed up documentaries before, but none are quite as unique as the fantastic and plastic country comedienne Trixie Mattel. She’s gone from a (twice) eliminated contestant on RuPaul’s Drag Race to a crown-winning champion of Drag Race All Stars and the co-host of her own shows. But, as the sobering doc Trixie Mattel: Moving Parts reveals, it’s not all been puppies and rainbows for this beloved queen.

TRIXIE MATTEL: MOVING PARTS: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: A one-man camera crew follows Drag Race favorite and all around skinny legend Trixie Mattel during the most tumultuous year of her rapidly rising career, from the highest of highs (winning All Stars 3) to the lowest of lows (watching her best friend and comedy partner spiral out of control). There is no glitz and glamor in this raw doc, and all the glitter is purely incidental.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Mattel and producer David Silver have cited Gaga: Five Foot Two, Madonna: Truth or Dare, and Bob Dylan’s Don’t Look Back as inspiration, and there are similarities to all three. The mental health aspects have shades of the unflinching Dandy Warhols/Brian Jonestown Massacre doc Dig!, and the behind-the-scenes look at the can’t-stop Mattel feels similar to Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work and Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop.

Performance Worth Watching: I mean, it’s called Trixie Mattel: Moving Parts for a reason. Plenty of drag queens can fill up screen time with catchphrases and spilt tea, but this at times uncomfortably intimate look at what Brian Firkus puts into Trixie Mattel really makes it clear why she is so special. This documentary, the somber sarcasm and poignant pathos, shows a deeper side of Trixie Mattel’s campy country aesthetic, but it feels cut from the same pink gingham.

Memorable Dialogue: Trixie Mattel on her estrangement from her longtime creative partner and friend, Katya: “I didn’t like being on my own as much as I liked being friends with her. It was never about getting famous enough so that you can survive on your own. I preferred surviving with her.”

Our Take: There’s an expectation that comes along with the words “Drag Race documentary,” and Moving Parts defies every single one of them in order to create a film that’s not only more honest than you expected, but also more honest than anyone involved thought it would be when they first hit record.

What was most likely intended to be a fun look at Trixie’s life as she snatched every wild opportunity afforded a wildly successful drag queen (her own TV show, a cosmetics partnership, a UK tour, another go at the Drag Race crown!) took a sharp turn into bumpy, uncharted territory as soon as Katya’s mental breakdown jeopardized not only their Viceland series but their deep friendship.

That moment, Katya’s abrupt departure from The Trixie & Katya Show in order to seek help, comes early in the film and it turns Moving Parts into the most powerful makeup remover on the market. Gone is the glam illusion that drag queens don to work an audience. It’s wiped away clean by one of the most complicated depictions of mental health and its ripple effect outwards I’ve ever seen captured in a documentary.

As Katya’s mental state worsens and their relationship deteriorates, we watch Trixie cycle rapidly through so many emotions: worry for her friend, fear for her career, anger over the text attacks sent by an offscreen Katya. There are so many layers here, as Trixie knows she can’t blame her best friend for lashing out while in the midst of a psychotic break, but that doesn’t stop the this dementor from confirming all the doubts that already exist in Trixie’s head… And then Trixie puts on acres of polyester and miles of makeup and charms hundreds with her autoharp skills.

For what’s ostensibly a drag doc, we spend way more time with Mattel’s unassuming alter-ego Brian Firkus, a flannel-clad Milwaukee native that was easily mistaken for a crew person on the Drag Race set. What’s most striking about Moving Parts is how it completely and unintentionally calls out all of the other drag media we consume. We drag fans consume drag content that is almost exclusively billed as “real,” be they reality shows or docu-series or YouTube tutorials or Instagram stories. We feel like we know these queens because we watch them do live Q&A sessions while getting ready for a gig. Trixie fans no doubt feel that way from following her career online and onscreen, but Moving Parts goes deeper than even the feistiest Untucked! episode. The doc shows the flubs and doubts that plague even the fiercest performers.

Because of the relentless realism, not something drag is particularly known for, Trixie Mattel: Moving Parts is actually hard to watch—and that’s the best part about it. This documentary, through focusing on everything from frank discussions of mental health to Happy Meal Barbie toys, paints with so many more colors than the usual queer-centric films. It validates all of us, the millions of us, who have ribbons of gray in our rainbow.

Our Call: STREAM IT. This is an essential watch for everyone that loves docs that explore the creative process and, honestly, the struggle of being a person on Earth.

Where to stream Trixie Mattel: Moving Parts