Christopher: A Portrait of a FTM. video (3 minutes). Jane Gang, 1999.
| Overexposure effects add to the dream-like, faded quality of this film. A nearly indecipherable voice over has little direct bearing on the action, which seems to be fantasy prosthetic masturbation and narcissistic self-admiration on the part of a young, attractive transman of (possibly) Asian descent. | ||
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Gendernauts. 35mm (87 min). Dir. Monika Treut. with Susan Stryker, Annie Sprinkle, Sandy Stone, Jordy Jones, Texas Tomboy, Max Wolf, and Stafford. 1999.
| A highly recommended look at some transfolk (particularly men) who live in or were visitors to San Francisco. Beautifully crafted, accounts from the participants are woven together with history and theory from Stryker and Stone. No attempt is made in this film to fix hard identities, or squeeze people into boxes. This allowed the nuances and subtleties of each person's trans experience to surface. | ||
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Boys Don't Cry. 35mm (114 min). Dir. Kimberly Peirce. with Hilary Swank, Chloe Sevigny, Peter Sarsgaard, Brendan Sexton and Alison Folland. Twentieth Century Fox, 1999.
| We are all familiar with the outlines of the story of Brandon Teena, his short life in Nebraska, his brutal murder, and its fumbled handling by Nebraska police. If Hilary Swank's Oscar award didn't convince you to see the film, this annotation should. Brilliantly and beautifully filmed, there is no artificial foreshadowing to the story's violent end. Peirce allows the viewer to, at times, forget what is coming and instead experience richly what Brandon was like before he was murdered. Nevertheless, be ready for graphic and disturbing rape and murder scenes, which do justice in portraying the horror and betrayal of the situation. Although the film honors the events to a high degree, note that some things have been simplified in the screenplay, and some details at the murder scene are not accurate. A documentary, called "The Brandon Teena Story" also exists. This entry is forthcoming. | ||
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