Female Film Critics 24/375
The documentary Knock Out Blonde: The Kellie Maloney Story reveals how Maloney, a parent of three daughters, became one of the most well-known transgender people in Britain. While it encourages others to embrace who they are, the film is uneven, avoiding some issues while showing other moments, such as Maloney’s gender reassignment surgery, in uncomfortable detail.
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If you’re looking for something truly different, watch French filmmaker Jacques Audiard’s daring operatic drama Emilia Perez. Set against the brutality of Mexico City’s drug cartels, it’s the story of Juan ‘Manitas’ Del Monte, a swarthy, cigar-smoking, middle-aged kingpin – married with two young children – who yearns to be a woman. To achieve that end, he hires Rita Moro Castro (Zoe Saldana), an overworked, overlooked criminal defense attorney, to discreetly arrange his highly risky gender reassignment surgery in Switzerland, eventually emerging as the titular Emilia Perez (Karla Sofia Gascon), leaving his angry yet adoring wife Jessi (Selena Gomez) to believe he’s dead.
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Emilia Pérez combines humor, suspense, and violence in a musical. Facing personal threats, Mexican cartel kingpin Manitas del Monte decides his only escape from his violent, dysfunctional life is to transition to a woman. Manitas compels the shocked lawyer Rita to find a qualified doctor to pursue his escape from an ugly life of crime. To reveal any more of the marvelous twists and turns would ruin the exhilarating roller coaster ride blending humor, suspense, violence, multiple shocks, plus fabulous singing and dancing. Director Jacques Audiard segues seamlessly through genres, whisking the audience through characters’ stunning array of emotions.
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Fearless and unflinching, writer-director Jacques Audiard’s bold fever dream of a movie colors outside the genre lines. Emilia Perez is unlike any conventional cartel crime thriller that’s gone before. It’s a comic-tinged wild ride with romance, desire, redemption and a dark side all put into play. One of the most audacious films of the year, look for it to be on many shortlists for its bravura filmmaking and triumphant acting.
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Emilia Perez is one of those movies you just have to see. It will leave you speechless whether you like the film or not. No description will do it justice, it’ll only make you question what was Audiard thinking…or smoking? But with a dearth of fresh ideas in Hollywood, you have to give Emilia Perez creativity flowers as well as kudos to the entire cast who were able to bring one man’s surreal fantasy to fruition.
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Harper Steele was always Harper Steele but for most of her life she wore the persona of Andrew Steele, an Iowa born and raised comedian and writer who worked on Saturday Night Live for many years. That is where Andrew first met a fresh-faced Will Ferrell in 1995 and the two became close friends and collaborators. Andrew was in Will’s corner when other people thought he was a dud addition to the famous sketch show. Andrew and Will were part of a core group of comedians and writers who included Tina Fey, Will Forte, Tim Meadows, Seth Meyers, Kristen Wiig, and Molly Shannon (all of whom make appearances) and so many more. Josh Rosenbaum’s documentary Will & Harper begins with “Famous movie star, Will Ferrell” relating his thirty-year friendship with Andrew and the email he received which caught him unaware – Andrew had transitioned to her authentic self, Harper, and was now living as a woman. Harper hoped Will would still want her in his life.
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Alice Maio Mackay as a filmmaker brings so much fundamental joy to her movies. There’s an old school punk rock spirit here of finding joy in the bleak mess of it all, and perhaps nowhere else in her work is that joy more vivid than Satranic Panic – bright, eye-popping jewel colors explode on a screen further electrified by her meshing of the traditional horror film format with that of the musical. Mackay simply delights in Satranic Panic’s musical numbers – clearly as much as she does the more gruesome horror vignettes – and it is this sense of glee that render her films so effortlessly charming. A bright light in a dark world, Satranic Panic is another welcome addition to this astonishing young filmmaker’s growing oeuvre.
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Writer and director Vuk Lungulov-Klotz’s chaotic Mutt crystalises the many aspects of trans experience into a twenty-four-hour period in the life of Feña (Lio Mehiel) who encounters many key people in his life he hasn’t seen since before he transitioned. While the set up might seem like a conceit, Vuk Lungulov-Klotz is using the small window of time to tell a story that for many trans people has a universal resonance. Feña is constantly misgendered, apologising for being trans and then becoming furious for having to apologise. He has one thing he really wants to do and that’s to pick up his Chilean father, Pablo (Alejandro Goic) who he hasn’t seen for several years from the airport. It might seem like a low stakes goal but as the day progresses and people disappoint Feña by flaking or reneging on promises, his end objective becomes as Herculean as his constant struggle to make people recognise who he is, and always was.
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If people who are less understanding of trans rights see this film, it has the potential to shift belief and possibly reverse a lot of outdated laws. That would be a gift and blessing to kids finding challenges now, but even more future kids who won’t have to struggle needlessly as they grow. Of course the film is subjective, as it aims to change a lot of hearts, and attempts to do so through experience rather than statistics, but if the definition of great art is that it elicits compassion and understanding, Little Girl qualifies.
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A funny thing happened when Susan Sandler, the Golden Globe nominated screenwriter behind the 1988 film Crossing Delancey, went to a comedy club in 2015. She witnessed a set performed by a 60-something older trans-woman whose stand-up persona has been described as a cross between a shouty, profane Sam Kinison and huggable Mrs. Doubtfire. She and Scotti hit it off at the bar, so much so that Sandler was inspired to become a first-time director so she could share this ex-Jersey boy’s endearingly poignant journey that allowed this funny lady to embrace her own inner female self.
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