BALD JASON'S GAY GOTH BOY BLOG
A Work in Progress…Welcome Back!
2022 Entry #023 02-01-22 “Violets” is a 23 minute 2017 short which was written & directed by Maren H. Jensen. The story focuses on Scott St. Patrick’s John, a police officer, son, husband and father who is struggling with gender identity…and how that struggle affects those around him.
Wow. This was great! I’d really like a feature length version of this. I thought this had some really interesting things to say and I loved how it ended.
2022 Entry #020 02-01-22 “Walk For Me” is a 12 minute 2016 short film which was written and directed by Elegance Bratton (“Pier Kids”, “Buck”). The film is a contemporary coming out story about a trans girl named Hassan (Aaliyah King) who explores her identity voguing under the name Hanna and must make some difficult but intuitive decisions about how she will allow herself to be seen and how she will allow herself to be addressed.
Another great short! This was such a nice surprise. And I would welcome a feature length version.
2022 Entry #016 01-30-22 “Boys Don’t Cry” is a devastating 1999 American biographical film directed by Kimberly Peirce, and co-written by Peirce and Andy Bienen. The film is a dramatization of the real-life story of Brandon Teena, an American trans man who attempts to find himself and love in Nebraska but falls victim to a brutal hate crime perpetrated by John Lotter & Marvin “Tom” Nissen, two male acquaintances.
The film stars Hilary Swank (“Quiet Days in Hollywood”, “The Black Dahlia”) as Brandon; she won an Oscar for her performance. Chloë Sevigny (“If These Walls Could Talk 2”, “American Psycho”, “Party Monster”, “3 Needles”, “Will & Grace”, “We Are Who We Are”) plays Lana Tisdel, the young woman that Brandon fell in love with. Peter Sarsgaard (“Kinsey”, “The Dying Gaul”) plays John Lotter & Brendan Sexton III (“Welcome to the Dollhouse”) plays Nissen.
I read about the murder of Brandon Teena in the newspaper. I was out to my grandmother at the time and I read the story to her in tears. When I heard that there would be a film version, part of me was happy that others would learn of his story, part of me was concerned the film wouldn’t do him justice…and the rest of me just dreaded having to relive the emotions of my original reaction. I saw the film once when it was new and I’m pretty sure I fast-forwarded several bits because I just couldn’t handle it.
This time there was no fast-forwarding and while I was able to enjoy much of the film, there were more tears, but a lot of respect for those telling this story. It’s a well made film, which frustratingly struggled with the ratings board, not because of the violence against Brandon, but because of its perceived lesbianism – a story which is explored in the excellent documentary “This Film is Not Yet Rated” – which I highly recommend viewing.
So, why have I re-watched it? Since March of 2020 I’ve been making an effort to see more LGBTQ+ movies while revisiting ones that I’d already seen. It’s become something I really enjoy and something very healing. But I recently noticed that in the last 2 years, out of the 603 movies I watched in that period of time, only a small fracture were lesbian or trans inclusive titles and I’ve decided to correct that if I can in 2022. Part of the reason I was hesitant to view trans inclusive titles is that even well told stories controversially rely on cis gender actors and I didn’t want to be attacked for supporting such films. And frankly, a big chunk of trans stories involve their deaths. I find that quite emotional, but violence against trans women, and especially trans women of color, is a sad fact of life…which film can telegraph to the public – just as long as these are not the only stories that are told. I mean, I remember when for years most gay themed stories were about us dying of AIDS or hate crimes and while those aspects of our subculture are valid, when that’s all that anybody sees it sends all kinds of messages to people, like why are we only allowed to be in film if we’re victims? That kind of a thing. Thankfully gay representation has really flourished in the last 20 years and now those old images of us seem less offensive now because they are balanced. I’m hoping to find some balance for trans stories as well.
2022 Entry #014 01-30-22 “The Badge” is a 2002 mystery-thriller film which was written and directed by Robby Henson. The film stars Billy Bob Thornton (“Tombstone”, “Sling Blade”, & Ellen’s historic “The Puppy Episode”) & Patricia Arquette, with Jenna Malone (“Life as a House”, “American Girl”, “Saved!”) & Thomas Haden Church (“Easy A”).
The story follows Thornton’s homophobic Louisiana sheriff Darl Hardwick, as he hesitantly investigates the murder of a pre-op trans woman named Mona, at the behest of the victim’s wife Scarlett (Arquette). As Hardwick struggles to find justice for Mona, he is forced to face much of his own prejudice and make amends with his gay brother David (Church).
I bought this movie when it was relatively new, but I put off watching it. I knew that the film dealt with the death of a trans woman, and while I’ve always been interested in seeing LGBTQ lives depicted, I wasn’t sure this would be worth it. This changed over the years as Alexis Arquette, Patricia’s sister, came out as a trans woman, and I figured she wouldn’t appear in anything that would be too offensive. And while there were times that I strongly disliked the characters in the film and I can’t say that it’s a great movie, it wasn’t the horrible nightmare of transphobic bullshit that I had originally feared. I can’t give it a solid recommendation, but I also don’t regret watching it.
2022 Entry #012 01-29-22 “Different for Girls” is a 1996 British / French dramedy film which was written by Tony Marchant and directed by Richard Spence. The film stars Steven Mackintosh (“Prick Up Your Ears”, “Rocketman”) as Kim Foyle, a post-op trans woman who has an unexpected run-in with an old school chum named Paul Prentice, played by Rupert Graves (“Maurice”, “Bent”, “Room to Rent”, “V for Vendetta”, “Swimming with Men”) – a longtime crush of mine.
At first, Kim wishes to avoid Prentice, who knew Kim before her change and defended her in school (when he believed she was a gay man). Although he’s confused by her choices and is at first ignorant of transgender issues, to his credit he sees no reason why they can’t continue their friendship and chooses to educate himself. There are complications due to family, other relationships, police brutality and other unexpected turns, but the film gives us the happy ending that these characters deserve.
I should note that there is a school of thought (which I agree with) that trans roles should be played by trans actors, because having cis actors play these roles contributes to violence against trans people. For more information on this topic, I highly recommend the fantastic Netflix documentary “Disclosure”. But having said that, this film was made before such information was widely known, the story is sensitively told and it has a lot of important information in an entertaining film. For instance, the film goes out of its way to inform the audience that Kim is a woman and that her attraction to men is heterosexual…which seems brilliant for a film from 1996. Nicely done.
This is another film that I’ve owned for decades and had seen once before. I remembered that I enjoyed it and I’m happy to say that I probably enjoyed it even more the second time through.