Exposed

New York director Beth B, who has been exploring alternative subcultures since the 1970s, turns her lens on New Burlesque in this documentary featuring explicit nudity. Interviewees' comments about their lives are interwoven with scenes of preparation for going onstage and excerpts from performances. Bunny Love says that her parents don't know what she does, but she thinks that's for the best, since they tried to steer her towards a more conventional career. World Famous BOB thinks of herself as a gay man in drag, since drag performers helped raise her. Although she dresses like a woman, she once preferred a more androgynous look, which reflects her fluid approach to sexual orientation. Rose Wood also feels more comfortable in the space between genders. When he isn't performing as a rabbi, he adopts the role of a woman who reveals herself as a man (after he receives breast implants, the rabbi routine will surely seem even more subversive). Mat Fraser, who has underdeveloped arms, combines humor and politics into his routine (his mother took thalidomide for morning sickness). When he was younger, Mat tried to hide his disability, but now aims to demystify his condition, since he believes that everyone feels different to some degree or another. Other profiled subjects include James "Tigger!" Ferguson, Bambi the Mermaid, Dirty Martini, and Julie Atlas Muz. For all, burlesque has helped them to accept their shape, gender, and sexual orientation, and they hope to inspire a similar sense self-acceptance in their audiences. Recommended. (K. Fennessy)