Review: John Early cooks up a marvelous melodrama with “Maddie’s Secret”

by Cláudio Alves Women on screen are more interesting than men. This is a truth universally acknowledged by actressexuals everywhere, and, by the looks of it, John Early is an actressexual like no other. For his feature directorial debut, the openly queer comedian-turned-actor-turned-maverick-filmmaker has decided to take these passions to the next level. Rather than watch from afar, he has become one of the great actresses he’d like to see on screen. And yet, for all it plays with gender, Maddie’s Secret isn’t necessarily a trans narrative nor what one usually expects from a drag queen movie, especially one whose cast comprises so many sketch and stand-up comedians. The film’s genealogy harkens back to Old Hollywood melodrama and its queer revisionisms and reinventions by the hands of auteurs such as John Waters and Todd Haynes. Run a DNA test, and you’ll find some of Polyester in there, some Superstar, but also those moralistic “based on a true story” spectacles that filled the…