Femme

Lead is a black drag performer played by Nathan Stewart-Jarrett in a story built around queer identity and London’s scene. Some reviews note positive centering of black LGBT stories. Casting fits the drag-artist premise but places visible emphasis on racial and queer identity in the main role.

Scenes and dialogue explore gender norms, hyper-masculinity as armor, and identity struggles with some queer-theory subtext. Messaging stays mostly implicit through character actions, tension, and the seduction-revenge relationship rather than direct activist speeches.

Core premise, arcs, and structure center performing identity (literal drag and metaphorical masks), reclaiming power after trauma via seduction and role reversal, contrasts between out queer life and closeted self-loathing, and fluid same-sex dynamics. Directors explicitly discuss rejecting gender binaries and masculinity as performance.

Portrays toxic hyper-masculinity and performative straight-acting as damaging ways to hide queerness and insecurity. Shows homophobia and conformity pressure in everyday spaces and relationships, framing traditional gender expectations as harmful. Focus remains personal and psychological rather than broad systemic attacks on institutions.

Almost no reported complaints in news or social media treating the film as pushing woke, DEI, or identity-politics messaging. It received niche attention as a queer thriller with little mainstream conservative pushback or organized criticism.

Sam H. Freeman holds a cached lower score with limited prior activist record. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping together center recent work on queer stories, identity performance, challenging gender binaries, and placing queer perspectives in traditionally straight genres. They describe themselves as queer creators entering straight spaces and stress resolutely queer casting and crew choices.