CHRISSY JUDY

Stars: Todd Flaherty, Wyatt Fenner, Joey Taranto, Kiyon Spencer, James Tison, Nicole Spiezio, João Pedro Santos and Olivia Oguma.
Writer/Director: Todd Flaherty.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

A drag performer faces an uncertain future on all existential fronts in Todd Flaherty’s endearing comedy/drama, Chrissy Judy. A major achievement for the multi-hyphenate, who not only gives a charming, star-making lead turn but also wrote, directed and edited this bittersweet slice of gay modern life, this 2022 festival favourite is a big-hearted examination of friendship and community wrapped in a classic show business narrative.

A dashing screen presence, Flaherty plays ‘Judy’, one half of the performance duo ‘Chrissy Judy’, a drag act that once held promise but has been floundering as gigs grow smaller and audiences less appreciative. Wyatt Fenner matches Flaherty’s charisma as ‘Chrissy’, now nearing thirty and increasingly focussed on emotional and financial stability over stardom-chasing pipedreams. 

Once inseparable as friends, Chrissy and Judy are drifting apart; at a Fyre Island beach house with their committed friends, the strain that different life directions is taking on their bond begins to show. Soon, Chrissy departs to start a new life in Philadelphia with his on-off partner Shawn (Kiyon Spencer), leaving Judy on his downward professional spiral and struggling to fill the void left in his emotional fabric by Chrissy’s absence.

Flaherty sets his film up as a classic New York City romance; the stunning black & white lensing by Brendan Flaherty invokes the spirit of Woody Allen’s Manhattan and, for younger auds, Noah Baumbach’s Frances Ha. It is a mood that keeps Judy’s (or James, revealed in a moment of tenderness) journey buoyant, but shaded in dark greys; he reconnects with past acquaintances and instigates doomed flings to try to find new meaning in life, only for the emptiness to become more and more apparent.

The fulfilling tenderness of the gay lifestyle, or the showbiz community, or the family unit are all explored in Flaherty’s effortlessly affecting script, but it is ultimately Judy’s re-evaluating of what defines him as a human that drives Chrissy Judy. LGBTIQA+ audiences will appreciate the knowing nods to the gay-specific life (including some occasionally frank language and sexual content), but Judy/James’ story is a universally recognisable one, and told with a degree of intelligence and empathy that is rare.