Tucked

This proved to be quite an engaging look at an ageing drag artiste (Derren Nesbitt) and a young, aspiring one (Jordan Stephens) - how they become friends and deal with terminal illness and reconciliation. It is clearly done on a budget and the drag stage scenes seem to rehash jokes that were popular while Noah was building his Ark. Both leads are good, though, and it is not overbearingly sentimental. Not a complaint I usually make, but this is a little too short. The ending is upon us without us really having had too much opportunity to develop the characters more. Worth watching but don't expect too much.

I'm so pleased a Googled Derren Nesbitt last night. How we.

Tucked (2018) is an English movie written and directed by Jamie Patterson.

The film stars Derren Nesbitt as Jackie, a straight man who performs as a woman at a nightclub. He's not just Jackie, as he tells us. He's "The one and only Jackie."

Within the first few minutes of the movie, we learn that Jackie has a particularly aggressive form of cancer. His physician tells him to ease back a little, but naturally that's exactly what Jackie doesn't want to do.

Enter Jordan Stephens as Faith, a new performing artist at the club. We're never sure if Faith is straight or gay, and that's the way he wants it. He's very talented, and he certainly could be successful, especially after Jackie takes him under his wing.

There's a subplot about Jackie's estranged daughter, which is predictable, but works well enough. Actually, the entire film is fairly predictable. We know the beginning and we know the end.

What makes the film work is what happens along the way. It helps that the acting is truly outstanding. We learn to care about both Jackie and Faith and to care about exactly what will happen next.

We saw this movie at Rochester's great Little Theatre, as part of the outstanding Image Out, the Rochester LGBT Film Festival. It will work well on the small screen.

This movie has too few IMDb ratings to be meaningful, and I believe that I'm the first IMDb reviewer. So . . . you'll have to take my word for it that Tucked is worth seeing. Or, as Faith says, "Everyone needs a little faith."

I was lucky enough to catch this film at the BFI Flare LGBTQI+ film festival and despite being intrigued by the synopsis, I wasn't fully prepared for how moving a film I was in for. This is a mesmerising, heartwarming & wry tale of friendship, family, gender fluidity, life choices and much more - all wrapped up in a superbly shot and exquisitely balanced story. The local setting and framing of the reality, mundanity and beauty of the leads' existence really shines in the directing and camerawork with some of the shots literally taking my breath away on the cinema screen. One closeup of a hairy knee through fishnets actually bought me to tears. The witty and nuanced script is superb and lifted even higher by Nesbitt on blistering form as the ageing performer, with Jordan Stephens holding his own in the emotional scenes as his young ward. The whole cast really sinks its teeth into the tale and those moments are great, but at its core, this is a vehicle for Nesbitt to show why he should have had many more lead roles in his brilliant career and thanks to the director, Jamie Patterson, he finally gets that moment and runs with it. All in all this is a beautiful, timely, unique masterpiece which I can only hope gets the wide audience it deserves. Highly recommended!

Writer and director Jamie Patterson is the co-founder of Jump Start Productions and has both written and directed many British films. He brings to life the world of drag queens in this sparkling film released in 2017 in the UK, winning awards in the 2018 Los Angeles Outfest Film Festival.

The film opens in a LGBTQ+ nightclub with elderly Jackie Collins (Derren Nesbitt) lip-syncing a song then delivering some of the funniest audience-focused jokes of any stand up comedienne. Jackie is not gay: he has always had an affinity for dressing in women's clothes, was married to a woman who died of cancer, and has a estranged daughter Lily (April Pearson) whom he has not seen in years. Jackie encounters a young drag queen Faith (Jordan Stephens), sees that Faith is sleeping in his car, and invites him home. The pair's discussions about their gender - Faith is a male who prefers to be seen as female but is tenuous as to gender declaration - provide a very fine exploration about gender assignment and choice. Their friendship grows in importance. Jackie has been informed that he has only six weeks to live (terminal carcinoma) and decides to continue his life as a performing drag queen to fill his time, and while Faith advises him to contact his daughter about his diagnosis, Jackie declines. April, whose wedding is approaching, appears at one of Jackie's shows and the result provides a touching conclusion.

Derren Nesbitt is superb in this tough role, allowing us to appreciate his character's conflicts while performing some of the most hilarious stage jokes on film! Jordan Stephens, an established recording artist, offers a strong portrait as Faith. The two actors employ Jamie Patterson's story to offer a fine overview of how to be themselves in a lifestyle few understand. The film is both an excellent LGBTQ+ story and an excellent, entertaining and touching experience.