Inside Out is one of my favorite festivals of the year, and they start strong this year with Jump, Darling. It’s about Russell, or Fishy Falters (Thomas Duplessie), who moves in with his grandmother Margaret (Cloris Leachman).

Margaret, by the way, lives in Prince Edward County, and the movie is very honest about gay life in rural Ontario. It shows the one gay-ish bar there where he performs in drag in exchange for some drinks.

Each movie follows archetypes and tropes, and this one can’t escape such things. Basically, Russell’s move became a thing because he’s running away from something. Russell’s running from a lot of things with varying degrees of danger.

But danger’s not the only thing in Russell’s life. The movie, because it’s about a drag queen, has its share of depicting those performances, and it depicts those scenes breathtakingly while showing different and diverse drag styles.

Again, this is a movie that’s tangentially about drag, and Fishy isn’t the only act that we see. Watch out for cameos from real drag queens, especially Sheldon MacIntosh aka Tynomi Banks who makes a meorable appearance.

And thankfully it’s not always about Russell’s troubles. The movie takes time to show Margaret’s complex relationship between her daughter and Russell’s mom Ene (Linda Kash), and how all three still care about each other despite their differences.

It also depicts Margaret as a very dignified person. Sure, some of the scenes exist so that Margaret can say something that shocks her drag queen grandson, but that’s just part of her being a strong woman.

Movies like this, admittedly, exist, as some wish fulfillment, where fictional characters atone for their sins in a way that real people can’t. But there’s this earnest sheen here, and audiences here will feel some genuine emotions.