The power of RuPaul’s Drag Race, whether we want to admit it or not, is the prevalence of drag becoming mainstream. From the over-the-top performances on Lip Sync Battle to little indie hits, an artform that has existed for hundreds of years is now finding mainstream success. And while there’s a lot to be said about the competition both positively and negatively, it has launched careers of stunning and messy queens. The kinds of queens who are at the heart of God Save the Queens, a new dramedy premiering at Tribeca 2022.

Written and directed by Jordan Danger, the film opens on Klein/GiGi (Jordan Michael Green), a down-on-his-luck drag queen trying to find steady employment to launch his one woman drag show who’s introduced talking to himself in the reflection of a car window. “You got this. This is baby school stuff,” he tells himself before meeting the old woman who wants to hire someone to take care of her ailing husband. And while she was initially put off by him being Black, the painted nails were a step too far. So, on his dejected way out of the home, he steals a golden elephant that he bequeaths to his mother.

The narrative then switches to Lewis/Marmalade (Kelly Mantle), who represents the older queens. The ones who are established in their own right but with the new attention towards drag queens, skews older than what the scouts are looking for. They are introduced talking to their parakeet Latoya, while preparing for a show that the club’s owner Simon (Peter Facinelli) says will be their ticket to the big times because a scout (played by Michelle Visage, natch) will be there looking for talent.

The final grouping of drag queens is Stevie Dix (Alaska Thunderfuck) and Rita Royale (Jay Jackson/Laganja Estranja), a pop duo who had a falling out over a boy and broke up their power group of Dix Royale over it. They both perform at a small Drag Brunch, cutting eyes and sneering at each other. But they, too, are being eyed by producers of Drag Talent Show, who need them to audition together, ostensibly because they are better together but in reality it’s for the drama.

These drag queens end up meeting at a therapy group run by Guy (Jonathan Goldstein) and Gail (Rachelle Carson-Begley), two hippies who interrupt the queens’ storytelling vignettes by telling them their time is up, and a mysterious woman (played by Luenell) who seems to know more about the queens than she should. What follows is a study of the lives of drag queens told through different perspectives and times in their lives and careers.

God Save the Queens has a floaty, almost dreamlike nature to the stories themselves, which are grounded in the actors’ naturalistic performances. Because it’s telling three different, mostly unrelated vignettes, the stories themselves lack depth and play out very quickly. There’s a goal, a problem is introduced and then they summarily solve it, one after another. But what makes the somewhat pedestrian narrative work is the committed performances by the cast. In one particular scene, Marmalade is backstage, getting ready with the rest of the queens, and the way this scene is naturally filmed feels real, particularly with the performances of the cast. There’s a laid back, calmly funny-without-trying-to-be effortlessness to these scenes that really feels authentic.

Really, though, it’s Kelly Mantle’s show and they are given a juicy monologue of rage at one point that cuts through not only drag’s obsession with youth and beauty but the entertainment industry. Their performance holds the entire film together and their story is the beating heart behind the ki kis and the reads the queens dish out backstage. This performance showed what a star they are and should hopefully get them some attention because in a film with campy performances and a lot of shade, its Marmalade, standing on the stage, trying to grab their brass ring while someone texts in the audience that I will remember.

A lowkey indie production with a huge heart and a lot of jokes, God Saves the Queen is fantastic.