“But for those who can’t accept me, I guess it’s just because they refuse to see it, and they don’t wanna understand it.”

Genre: Documentaries That Hark Back To Classic Documentaries
Release Date: 2025 (festival circuit 2024)
Where I Watched: Netflix

Gist: In the 1990 film Paris Is Burning, we got a look at the ball culture in New York City. We also got to meet and care about a whole lot of dancers in the scene. But for many of us, Venus Xtravaganza held a special place in our heart. Perhaps that was because she was so tiny and sweet. Perhaps because she was such a talented performer. Or perhaps it was because she was brutally taken from us before the documentary was released. Now, her biological brothers (along with a niece and nephew) look to find her killer.

Gotta say: I’ve always had a special place in my heart for Venus Xtravaganza. She seemed so fearless, so comfortable in her own skin. So freaking talented. As a gal who was born the same year this lady was? I’ll admit I wished I could be more like her back in the day. And I was heartbroken to see that the end of Burning closed with the information that she’d been murdered in a hotel room. Strangled to death and then left under the bed like so much garbage. It was a gut-punch that still hits me. So when Venus came to streaming, I was hesitant to watch. Would I end up even more heartbroken? Would I and other viewers get closure? Well, no, but also kinda.

Director Kimberly Reed shows why she’s racked up a slew of awards with Venus. The blending of past and present, House Xtravaganza and Venus’s biological family the Pellagatti’s, heartbreak and joy, is expertly done. At first, this doc focuses on the Pellagatti brothers, John, Joe, and Louie. After decades of trying to come to grips with their sister’s murder, they finally decided on two things. One, they’d try to get the case re-opened, and see if her killer could be brought to justice. Two, they’d push for a legal posthumous name change for Venus, as her brothers believe that had she survived, she would have done this for herself. They saw the change as a tribute to her, and a way to show their love for her after all this time.

Both Reed and the Pellagatti’s have no problem showing the uncomfortable side of Venus’s life with her brothers. There are several points in the doc where the brothers acknowledge that they didn’t understand what Venus was going through, leaving the possibility that the boys weren’t particularly sympathetic. Nothing is outright stated, though a meeting between the now-grown men and José Disla Xtravaganza, a member of House Xtravaganza who knew Venus well, hints that there was pain in Venus’s life. Jose says “…families don’t realize the damage they do”, and that hits like a bomb for the brothers. Especially as Reed shows that Venus wasn’t the first member of ball culture to be murdered, nor was she the last.

It’s good to see three Italian American guys from Brooklyn getting over their machismo and simply loving and respecting their sister. Watching them bond with the current and elder members of House Xtravaganza is just so lovely to see. Listening to the House Mother and other members discuss what their lives are like, and how important it is to have Venus recognized is powerful stuff. Reed uses re-edited clips from Burning along with current moments with the family, the House family, and the community at large. This all paints a picture of interconnection and harmony. Watching them all come together is lovely to see. I’d like more of this in the world, please.

By the end of Venus, there are some questions that remain unanswered, but the way both families and the community gather together to celebrate the life of a talented woman taken too early in her life is a beautifully emotional tribute all on it’s own.

Come for: A re-investigation of a tragedy.
Stay for: Hope and bittersweet joy from Venus’s community and families.