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‘Time Warp’ (Tribeca 2026) Rocky Horror babies, rejoice! Queer joy is everyone’s joy in small-town theatre doc.

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Tribeca 2026 posterTime Warp

time warpDirector Allison Sloan Berg‘s Tribeca 2026 doc Time Warp, and I see you shiver with Antici… pation. September 2022 in Rock Springs, Wyoming, a small theatre dares to put on a Shadow Cast production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Theatre director, producer, choreographer, house manager, and star of the show, Kenny Starling, brings us into the industrious, loving, and hardworking theatre company that delivers excitement and love to an otherwise quiet, conservative, and seemingly forgotten town.

full_Time_Warp-Clean-16x9-03Theatre has always been a safe space, long before that became a political buzzword. Time Warp appears relatively straightforward in its initial presentation. Berg features cast members’ backgrounds, rehearsals, and most surprisingly, a city council meeting that does not go the way we think it will.

It’s not an accident that Richard O’Brien‘s characters in Rocky Horror are aliens. The cast addresses the elephants in the room: mental health and coping mechanisms for LGBTQIA+ youth and adults. Statistics do not lie. Wyoming has the highest national rate of suicide among all its citizens, regardless of identity. Queer individuals are not safe. Violence and discrimination run rampant. Trans women are being murdered at an alarming rate. The film tackles these issues head on. 

full_Time_Warp-Clean-16x9-02Huge ups to music supervisor Doug Bernheim for the soundtrack, which features the OG Frank-N-Furter, Tim Curry, Siouxsie, Betty Davis, and Jobriath. Frank Keraudren’s editing, particularly the five-day-out rehearsal montage, opening night, and the credits, is delicious. Loved seeing huge Broadway stars line up as Executive Producers! Berg boasts Josh Gad, Billy Porter, and John Cameron Mitchell.

Witnessing the positive reactions from audience members will bring you to tears. Leave your assumptions at the door, but don’t forget to bring your joy. Time is fleeting. Take a page out of Dr. Frank-N-Furter’s book. Don’t Dream It, Be It. Time Warp, again and again.

Director: Allison Berg
Writers: Allison Berg and Frank Keraudren
Cast: Kenn Starling, Kaley Sikora, Gabriel Garcia, Dejanae Westbrook, Tim Robinson, Devin Manfull, Valerie McCoy, Tasha Seppie, Hana Tanaka, Em O’Lexey
Producers: Allison Berg, Susan Margolin, Jen Chaiken
Executive Producers: Josh Gad, Billy Porter, John Cameron Mitchell, Ida Darvish, DJ Gugenheim, Kevin Jennings, Kathy Rivkin Daum, Jen Rainin, Lisa Kleiner Chanoff, Gabrielle Fialkoff, Sally Klingenstein Martell. Josh Braun, Dan Braun, Ben Braun

 

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Review: ‘You Don’t Nomi’ documentary takes a good, hard look at the phenomenon that is Showgirls.

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Paul Verhoeven‘s Showgirls (1995) was met by critics and audiences with near universal derision. You Don’t Nomi traces the film’s redemptive journey from notorious flop to cult classic, and maybe even masterpiece.

Peaches Christ plays Cristal Connors in the stage production of “Showgirls! The Musical!” as featured in the documentary YOU DON’T NOMI, an RLJE Films release. Photo courtesy of RLJE Films.

Paul Verhoeven directed RoboCop, Total Recall, and Basic Instinct, three incredibly influential films of the late ’80s and early ’90s. Then he directed Showgirls. Oftentimes known as the rise and fall of Elizabeth Berkley‘s career, it is a film that gets s visceral reaction no matter what. You Don’t Nomi is a documentary about the ins and outs of the film’s effect on critics and audiences alike.

The film is edited to show his other films “reacting” to whatever scene we’re discussing. Which eventually becomes massively cathartic in juxtaposing sexual violence in Verhoeven’s films. Author Adam Nayman uses his book’s structure; Piece of Shit, Masterpiece, and Masterpiece of Shit. You can see how many of his films are wrapped into Showgirls. There is fascinating filmmaking happening once it’s broken down for you. You also meet April Kidwell, the star of I, Nomi, the Off-Broadway tribute to Showgirls. She discusses her parallel past and how performing a musical comedy based on the film has been her therapeutic outlet. Peaches Christ uses drag to, in a sense, improv shadow cast the film for sold-out crowds. The audience still loves this movie, no matter where that love comes from is a total phenomenon.

Audience at Showgirls at Midnight Mass in San Francisco in the documentary YOU DON’T NOMI, an RLJE Films release. Photo courtesy of RLJE Films.

The opposing opinions all make weird sense. I walked away feeling like I had just had a cinematic lobotomy. I still don’t know how I feel about Showgirls, but I know I want to gather friends and colleagues when this pandemic is all over and watch the hell out of it again. Same thing with this doc. You Don’t Nomi is brilliant in all the ways it challenges viewers and fellow critics to rethink Showgirls so many years later. It may just upend your brain, too.

YOU DON’T NOMI On Demand and Digital June 9, 2020