FORM-Idea

By Beverly Andrews

Cowboys directed by Anna Kerrigan is a charming and timely feature, which looks at the dilemma of Joe, the biological daughter of a Midwestern family.  A family whose well-meaning mom refuses to acknowledge the fact that Joe is in fact a transgender adolescent boy, who desperately wants to live a life based on his true identity.  Joe’s father Troy, on the other hand not only listens to what Joe has to say with regards to his gender identity, but decides to act.  That action being to take his son on a desperate and increasingly hazardous journey to Canada.  There, Troy believes his son will find acceptance.  What starts out as a well-meaning gesture though, quickly spirals into something far more dangerous, since Joe’s father is bipolar and he loses his medication along the way.   Medication he desperately needs to stabilise his mood swings.

With transgender rights and even access to healthcare for trans teens now under threat throughout America, (laws so draconian that some actually stipulate that teachers have to address pupils by their birth name and not their assigned one) this beautiful film arrives at a crucial time and highlights not only the need to respect the rights of trans teens but also presents a sympathetic portrait of a man struggling with a mental illness.  It’s ironic though that despite Joe’s father’s own psychological challenges, he is in fact the only parent who truly hears what Joe is trying to say.    Cowboys in its open heartedness suggests that maybe children are far more understanding and progressive than we might think.  Particularly in terms of gender acceptance as, once Joe returns to school dressed in his self-identified gender, when he boards the school bus expecting rejection, what he finds instead is the complete opposite, kids willing to accept him as he is and eager to hear about the adventures he had with his dad.  Cowboys hints at the possibility that out of sight of America’s right-wing politicians and headline chasing shock jocks, there are those who are far more open-hearted than one might expect.    With an astonishing performance from Sasha Knight in the lead role (who is in fact trans himself), Cowboys is definitely one to watch for.

Firebird is a rare glimpse of what life in the former Soviet Union was like for gay men, since it charts the relationship between two members of the country’s elite military forces.  Set at the height of the Cold War, a point at which the world appeared to be on the precipice of a catastrophic third world war, Firebird charts a love affair between a career air force officer and a new recruit.   Based on a true story, Firebird is a beautiful account of the love which flourished between them during these dangerous times.    Directed by Peter Rebane, and filmed in Estonia, Firebird stars Tom Prior and Oleg Zagorodnii as the lovers and highlights what happens when countries feel they are under threat, they often retreat to the most conservative version of themselves.  Very much a labour of love for both the lead actor Prior and the director Rebane, with Prior in particular not only starring in the film but acting as both the script co-writer and the music supervisor.  Although Firebird is an historical drama, it’s closing credits hint at the story’s contemporary relevance, highlighting the fact that only recently, Russia has passed laws to “prevent the sharing of homosexual propaganda”.  Pointing to the fact that gay men in Russia are still being forced to live their lives in the shadows.

P.S. Burn This letter Please is an extraordinary and deeply moving documentary whose creation was precipitated by the discovery of a cache of letters written by some of the country’s most prominent drag artists (or as they prefer to be called, “female impersonators”) to a young DJ who had only recently left town in pursuit of fame and fortune in Hollywood.  Beginning in the 1950’s, P.S Burn This Letter Please looks at a time when it was still illegal for a man to wear women’s clothing.  The film’s director tracks down the authors of these haunting letters and through the film’s many interviews we discover the magical world these heroic rebels inhabited.  A world in which they fought prejudice through creating almost unbelievable glamour.  It’s important to note that each time these men performed they were risking arrest and yet they were willing to do so in pursuit of their art.   Now in their eighties and nineties, the interviewees provide a charming and insightful presence and dramatically describe what life was like when they had to fight the system in order to live the lives they wanted.  P. S Burn This Letter Please, also points to society’s somewhat hypocritical attitude at the time to drag, since although it was illegal, many of the world’s most famous actors would go to extraordinary lengths to find underground clubs where they could see the industry’s biggest stars.  These men are incredible survivors from a time where the very concept of a gay community was simply alien.  P. S Burn This Letter Please ultimately reveals the identity of the man who kept these beautiful letters for so many years, the young DJ who ran away to Hollywood to find fame and fortune, would go on to become one of the industry’s most powerful agents, representing some of the world’s biggest stars, but although he found great success, he never forgot the friendships he forged with these wonderful drag artists.  The film concludes by revealing its most beautiful letter writer, a man now in his eighties but with cheek bones which would fill any current super model with envy.  A beautiful documentary which packs a powerful punch.

Sublet has to be my own personal favourite, a cross between Richard Linklater’s classic Before Sunrise and Sophia Coppela’s Oscar winning Lost in Translation. Lovingly directed by Eytan Fox, Sublet charts the cross generational encounter between a jaded fifties travel writer who makes a trip to Israel where he intends to spend five days experiencing the city, then writing about it.   In fact, he has done this for many years now and the film suggests that he has long ago ceased really seeing anything other then what guide books direct him to.   Renting an apartment there, the person he encounters who changes all of this is in fact his host, a twenty something cash strapped film maker, who has rented out his flat for the week with no alternative accommodation.   He passionately does not believe in happy endings. The author, feeling sorry for him, allows him to stay in the apartment while he’s there and hires him to be his guide to the city.  What follows is an almost hypnotically beautiful film which seems to stop time as you feel you are on their journey with them as they simply walk and talk together through the streets of Tel Aviv and along the way they discover they have far more in common than either of them would have initially suspected.   Their friendship gradually transforms into something far deeper and more profound than either could ever have anticipated.  Sublet could indeed be the festival’s breakout hit.

An also ran would be Kiss Me before it Blows Up (Kiss Me Kosher) a hilarious story of what happens when a ballsy Israeli lesbian brings home her German fiancée to her very liberal family, a family who are happy to accept her being a lesbian and actually joke about the number of partners she’s had, but her loving a German woman just might be a step too far even for them.

Shirel Peleg’s feature is both hilarious and insightful and it also points to the fact that deep historical wounds are in fact difficult to heal, the best-case scenario maybe simply a work in process.

At a time where some battles appear to have been won while others are still to being fought, Flare is a welcome reminder of the journey the LBGTQ+ community have made in order to carve out a place in society they can now call their own.

form-idea.com London, 14th April 2021.

A Window to the World