I Am Divine

The star of many of John Waters’ scandalous underground movies, Divine developed a huge cult following in the 1970s and '80s. As Waters himself puts it in the new documentary, I Am Divine, "Divine stood for all outsiders. He stood for anybody that didn't fit in, that exaggerated what everybody hated, and he turned it into a style. And he won." Although the film doesn’t always take that perspective overtly, you can see why Divine resonated so strongly in countercultural circles and how he eventually became mainstreamed. Like a lot of bio-docs, I Am Divine has a rosy view of its subject, who, by all accounts was a real sweetheart, anyway. But it’s a great, fun tribute for fans and an eye-opening look for the uninitiated.