Hit Me With Your Best Shot: 'Paris Is Burning'

We're thrilled to participate once again in The Film Experience's long-running series Hit Me With Your Best Shot, in which the film blog masses choose their favorite shot from selected movies.

Cinemunch is still out of the country, but Nathaniel's pick for this round of HMWYBS left us with no choice but to participate. The timeless portrait of a sub-sub-culture Paris Is Burning reveals new layers with each viewing and continues to influence pop culture today (see RuPaul's Drag Race for the most obvious example).

By the end of the documentary's short running time, the concept of identity has been prodded, poked, and challenged, leaving us wondering who we are and what relevance that question even has to our lives. The movie also places firmly in Nathan's top five of all time. If you haven't seen this one, head over to Netflix to watch it now!

First Runner-Up

Vogueing on the piers. Pushed to the water's edge, the fringes of society. 

Best Shot

Venus Xtravaganza gets her chance to look us in the eye, her one shot at permanence in the midst of the setting sun and the winds carrying music out and away over the water.