Noah Kern’s review published on Letterboxd:
This is easily one of the best movies I’ve ever seen, and it’s probably one of my all time favorites. It’s about tied with Crumb as my favorite documentary. It’s flawlessly directed and executed on every level. It’s also just extremely fascinating. Not only is it interesting to see the drag scene in the 80s, it really makes you wonder about all the other little subsections throughout New York that you could make thousands of documentaries on. This is one of the most heartbreaking films I’ve ever watched, and it hits really hard knowing that people in these positions are still looked down upon by a large group of people. It’s getting better, but watching this really reveals a lot. Even if you don’t love the movie, it’s hard to deny the fact that Paris is Burning is one of the most important films ever released. It’s definitely not one of the most influential or anything like that, but for a movie like this to be released in 1990 is shocking. In my opinion, this is on the small list of films that everyone should have to see at some point in their life because it really has so much to say. Flat out masterpiece.