Matthew Taylor

Critical Film Review

Thursday, February 13^th, 2020

The Reelout Film Festival was something special that I’ve never experienced before and I’m glad I got the opportunity to do so.  The movie I attended was Good kisser, written and directed by Seattle filmmaker, Wendy Jo Carlton. The movie is based off two girlfriends, Jenna and Kate who later on open up their relationship with another female, Mia. The film is based around one big night involving a big party, alcohol, and drugs. Good Kisser is a film that is presented almost like a play; most of the film takes place in one night and featuring the three main characters. From my point of view, the acting at times was questionable in terms of it being “spotty” although the chemistry between the three females is what brought out the best in the film. I thoroughly enjoyed this film as I have never seen anything like it before and I have never been at a film festival like this one before.

At the beginning of the film, Jenna, one of the main characters was asked by the taxi driver what Jenna and her friend are doing tonight. Jenna replies saying “we’re going on a date with another woman”. Good Kisser is a film that shows the power that the lesbian culture has, in this case adding and exploring a three some of all females. “Ignoring the differences of race between women and the implications of those differences presents the most serious threat to the mobilization of women’s joint power (Lorde, Audre Geraldine, 1934-1992, P.117).” All three of the main characters in Good Kisser were white; no black women were represented throughout the film. This can affect the black lesbian culture, as they don’t feel they have the same power when comparing to the white lesbian women. Nowadays, lesbians are viewed as different and it’s crucial to acknowledge that they are just like any other gender.

Throughout the film, we observe a significant amount of potential scenarios that would be seen as too harsh or racist towards a specific community. When Jenna, Kate, and Mia communicate through the course of the film, we notice several complex feelings that are shown by all the girls. When observing feelings such as second guessing, conflicted feelings, difference in power, we see the harsh realities that some lesbians face leading you to be upset when the film finishes. In the article written by Sarah Banet-Weiser and Kate M. Miltner, they emphasize on the importance of women in the workforce, in this case the film industry. “While popular feminisms have varied goals and different means of expression, there is a predominant theme: what women need is self-confidence. In the workforce, women need to “lean in” and overcome “imposter syndrome”; in educational spaces, women need to assert themselves as smart and capable. On top of these, they stressed women most importantly need self-confidence regarding their inner selves. Sarah and Kate stated women must be “sure of themselves to overcome the often structural and societal problems that are keeping them down” (Sarah Banet-Weiser & Kate M. Miltner, 2015, P.172).” For the film producers to produce such films, it only helps the lesbian culture in a positive way as viewers see it in a positive way. It’s vital to recognize that these lesbian actors are fantastic actors that have great amounts of potential and to keep employed is the most important part of it all. Good kisser was a perfect example of lesbians doing what they enjoy while not caring what others think about it.

Many different lesbians often attract media attention, specifically in relation to feminism, sexual relationships, marriage, and more. In terms of representation in the film, it really only represented the lesbian culture and only having Caucasian females. Through the course of film, there are only five characters that we see in the entire movie. Jenna and Kate the Caucasian couple and Mia. The two other characters are the Uber driver Yuka, who is Chinese and Mexican and Clark, the male neighbour next door. By only having five characters in a movie like Good Kisser, its challenging to show enough sexual orientations and with this there were no representation of people with disabilities, limited representation of non-Caucasian characters and very limited representation of male characters other than small conversations between Jenna and Clark. Another note I made while watching the film was the lack of representation with women of colour. In my mind, women of colour are at the biggest degree of intersectionality in which why there may be a lack of representation of women in this specific film.

At the start of the film, it appears to seem that Kate is more dominant over Jenna. As the movie progresses we start to notice Jenna being more comfortable with Kate leading her to drift away from shyness and say what she believes in. With Jenna becoming more confident and standing up for her, it leads to the relationship and the group date to failure.

I thoroughly enjoyed Good Kisser although there are a few areas for improvement. I believe if the film had more characters it could’ve been represented more appropriately. Overall it was a good film that shows you the difficulties of lesbian couples.

Resources:

Sarah Banet-Weiser & Kate M. Miltner (2016) #MasculinitySoFragile: culture, structure, and networked misogyny, Feminist Media Studies, 16:1, 171-174, DOI: 10.1080/14680777.2016.1120490

Geraldine, Audre Geraldine Lorde. “Age, Race, Class and Sex: Women Redefining Difference .” Adobe® Acrobat® X PDF Bible, 21 Mar. 2011, pp. 159–196., doi:10.1002/9781118255728.ch7.

Margeaux Adams

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  The film The Garden Left Behind directed by Flavio Alves follows the daily life of Tina, a young transgender woman of colour, as she tries to navigate the early stages of her transition as well as the rising tensions that accompany this change. Although she remains optimistic, Tina is constantly struggling with acceptance throughout the film from both those around her as well as herself.   

The audience is first introduced to Tina as she walks the streets of New York City, distraught and afraid. This seems to be a recurring theme for Tina, as she struggles with how the world around her doesn’t seem to want to accept her for who she is. Aside from the threats of violence that she faces just for being a transgender woman, Tina is also constantly anxious about her position as an undocumented immigrant. Because of this, it is difficult for her to secure a stable job, so she uses her car as a driving service before getting a job as a bartender. Her income goes towards supporting her grandmother, as well as her gender reassignment surgery.

Our protagonist shares a close and affectionate bond with her grandmother Eliana, who she lives with. Her grandma is generally quite accepting of Gina’s transition and her place within the LGBTQ+ community, although there are a few instances where it is apparent that she is still struggling to grasp at the full scope of her granddaughter’s transition. For instance, she only refers to Tina as her former name, Antonio.

            This isn’t the only time when Tina doesn’t feel as though she is entirely supported by her those closest to her. Her Boyfriend, Jason, is partially accepting of her when they are alone, yet is embarrassed to be seen with her in public or around his friends.

Throughout the film, Tina attends visits with psychologist Dr. Cleary, eager to finally get diagnosed with gender dysmorphia so that she will be able to fully begin her transition. However, this is just another obstacle between her and who she wants to become, and it brings up “an element that’s rarely emphasized: getting permission to have surgery.” (Thompson) . Although she is very eager to enter the transgender community, a recent act of police brutality that left a transgender woman dead leaves another reason for her to become unsettled by the risk surrounding her new position. It’s at a meeting following the attack against Rosie, the murdered woman, that she meets a supportive group of women who understand exactly what she is going through and take her under their wing. She finds acceptance in these women, and with their support, becomes an activist for the rights of transgender women.

            The Garden Left Behindreally highlights the issues that transgender woman must face daily just to live as themselves. The most dangerous aspect would be the violence that effects the transgender community, but even the constant questioning creates a mentality of illegitimacy that they must challenge all the time. It’s difficult to understand who you are when your identity is always under investigation or you’re being asked to prove that you belong to one group or another. The gender binary model or binary thinking is a concept that can be used to describe this issue. It follows the idea that there are only two genders, and each gender has its own ascribed role (Baba). It doesn’t account for any differences in sexuality or gender fluidity and causes many problems for groups of people who don’t conform to this idea.

Tina faces many of these issues not only because she’s transgender, but also because she’s a woman of colour, is part of the LQBTQ+ community, is a first-generation immigrant, and her socio-economic standing, among other factors. The culmination of all these issues really provides a strong divide between Tina and her community and shows that there are many reasons for the harsh discrimination that she faces daily. 

Intersectionality, a term popularized by Kimberlé Crenshaw, would be best used to explain the culmination of issues that Tina faces. It’s the best way “understand how identities and power work together from one context to another.” (Crenshaw). There are so many factors that fuel the discrimination against Tina in the film, which include the fact that she’s a woman of colour, part of the LGBTQ+ community, transgender, and a first-generation immigrant. The overlap of her many social identities causes her to undergo more struggles than those who have less. She is not often discriminated against for being just one of these things, but for identifying as all of them simultaneously. 

The actions of Chris, a seemingly shy man who works at the local bodega, bring many issues involving violence against transgendered people to light. Chris is infatuated by Tina and doesn’t know how to handle his new feelings. It begins with a crush, which leads to a fascination before developing into a full-fledged obsession. 

The fetishization of trans women build them up as objects of fascination for heteronormative and cisgender people. This is evident with Chris, who eventually becomes extremely violent against Tina near the end of the film. The audience is shown parts of Chris’s life, which are supposed to illustrate how he developed his views surrounding Tina. His friends surround him with an overwhelming amount of toxic masculinity, and his own gender confusion frustrates him to the point of violence against those who seem to have a better understanding of who they are. His own struggle with acceptance leads him to react so negatively to his emotions for a woman who does not fill the stereotypical role that is placed in society.

Overall,The Garden Left Behind is able to accurately approach the issues that transgendered women are dealing with daily, while remaining uplifting and optimistic. Transgender actors were used to play the transgender characters, which provided accurate representation. Flavio Alves was able to highlight the struggle for acceptance and validation present within the lives of most transgendered women, with a story that realistically captures what life experiences are like for those who don’t conform to oppressive societal norms.

Resources

Baba, Habibe Burcu. “Popular Culture and Gender Studies.” Queens University, Canada. 9 Jan. 2020. Lecture.

Crenshaw, Kimberlé. “The Urgency of Intersectionality.” TED Conference, 2016. Keynote Speech.

Thompson, Andrea. “’The Garden Left Behind’ Is a Loving Depiction of a Trans Woman Struggling to Find Her Place in the World.” A Reel Of One’s Own, A Reel Of One’s Own, 14 May 2019, www.areelofonesown.com/home/2019/5/14/the-garden-left-behind-is-a-loving-depiction-of-a-trans-woman-struggling-to-find-her-place-in-the-world.

Riley Couture

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Though Maia/Zen is referred to as a ‘tomboy’ in the movie, she would rather identify as male, so in this blog I will be using the ‘he’ pronoun when referring to Maia/Zen

‘Zen in the Ice Rift’ follows a character named Maia Zenassi, an Italian high school hockey player with the talent to make the national team. While Maia was assigned female at birth, she would rather identify as a male, and be named Zen. Throughout the movie Maia struggles with getting along with others and dealing with the discrimination due to his trans-lesbian nature. Instances such as fights on the ice and shooting other people with BB guns are examples in which she lets out her anger.

The movie begins with our main character giving a middle finger to sky sky, signifying he’s sick of this world, and sick of all the bullying he gets for being different, he later pays for this by getting his neck locked to a fence by a bike lock. We later learn from his hockey coach that he had been invited to train with the women’s national hockey team, under one condition, that he no longer causes ‘trouble’ with the other players on his local team. To keep things from escalating with his teammates he strikes a deal with one of their girlfriends, Vanessa, by allowing her and her boyfriend to stay up at Maia’s lodge for a night, in exchange for no more harassment from the boys. The deal goes down and Vanessa takes her boyfriend to the lodge for a night, and in a very uncomfortable and awkward sex scene, Vanessa clearly was unhappy and uncomfortable with what was her first-time having sex. She ends up running away from home and stayed at the lodge with Maia for a few days afterwards, throwing away her phone and completely falling off the map, only Maia being aware of her whereabouts. The two spend days together and a relationship begins to blossom between the two of them. Vanessa finally makes her move on Maia on a chairlift ride, but Maia denies her, and Vanessa in a rage returns home to tell everybody that Maia had her locked up in her lodge against her will. This in result ends with the national team rescinding their offer, and Maia is back to square one, only this time aware of the lie that Vanessa is living herself.

One thing that I would like to mention about Zen in the Ice Rift is that the movie stayed true to itself, the entire plot seemed to hover around Maia’s struggle with her identity, and it would have been unrealistic and almost unsatisfying if the movie ended happily. The biggest issue I had with the film was that I just didn’t truly seem to escape into the movie’s plot like I do with other movies. My main issue with the movie was the filming style, in other words, the movie had several scenes which seemed to be awkwardly long, silent, and almost useless. While I understand that the filmmakers were trying to add an awkward and uncomfortable tone, just like Maia’s everyday life, it seemed that some scenes were just simply overdone in that sense.  

Intersectionality, a term brought up in class and studied in depth in tutorials is also very present in this film. Intersectionality by definition, is “a way to capture the multiple dimensions of discrimination” (Kaufman). The term, originally coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw, typically alludes to the burdens that black women face, but can also be used to describe the experiences of many more people. In the film, Maia experiences belittling through both lesbian and transgender discrimination. Comments such as ‘half-woman’ and ‘shitty lesbian’ are thrown at her daily from her hockey teammates, alongside the fact that he cannot be in the locker room with the rest of the boys while changing because he is ‘technically a girl’. These examples show that Maia doesn’t simply deal with homophobia and cissexism, but combined consequences of both factors (Kaufman).

When asked about her film, Margherita Ferri, the director of Zen in the Ice Rift, explains that her movie;

“intercepts the fragile boundary between wanting to belong and unconditionally being oneself, focusing on the discomfort and challenges faced by those who don’t conform to gender roles and the heteronormativity imposed by our society” (De Marco)

Heteronormativity is the belief that heterosexuality is the is the normal or default sexual orientation. We can see that this is essentially the mindset of every single person in the small Italian town that Zen in the Ice Rift takes place in. This extends as far as Maia’s own mother, who is aware of Maia’s sexual orientation, and while weakly attempts to be supportive of her child, is ultimately ashamed of him. Heteronormativity also acts as a comforter for those who are sexually ambiguous or uncertain. People feel comfortable in spaces that have already taken their shape (Ahmed). No matter the person, being outside the norm and being subject to change is always discomforting. Societal norms nowadays just float under the radar, almost like they are subconscious, they have a way of disappearing from view and nobody would care (Ahmed). And what scares people so much about coming out as something that isn’t the norm is the negative spotlight that comes with it. Maia is openly trans and lesbian in the film, and the negativity she gets from it, while of course is undeserved, is due to the heteronormative mindsets that her town is full of.

While Zen in the Ice Rift wasn’t my cup of tea in terms of cinematography, I admire all of the issues and ideas that the movie touched upon, because taboo subjects such as these need to be shown more often so that more people are informed and discrimination against minorities and members of the LGBTQ+ community can finally come to an end.

References

Kaufman, Peter. “Intersectionality for Beginners.” Everyday Sociology Blog, 23 April 2018, Retrieved from: https://www.everydaysociologyblog.com/2018/04/intersectionality-for-beginners.html#more

Ahmed, Sara. “Living a Feminist Life: Being in Question.” Duke University Press Books, January 2017, Retrieved from: https://read.dukeupress.edu/books/book/1933/chapter/191590/Being-in-Question

De Marco, Camillo. “Review: Zen in the Ice Rift.” Cineuropa, 9 January 2018, Retrieved from: https://cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/359420/

From the begging of the film you could tell that the relationship between the two was not very strong. Kate was pressuring her girlfriend Jenna into a threesome with another women when she was clearly not comfortable in that position, once they arrived at the other women’s house Mia, Kate did not change her behaviour, Jenna was clearly not comfortable and wanted to go home, but Kate kept pushing her to get drunk, relax, and try it out. But when Jenna seemed to take Kates advice, and she begins to come out of her shell, Kate appeared to get jealous, and seemed to try and stop Jenna from having fun in some ways. Throughout the film I felt that although the acting and filming had its weak spots, the true fault was in the writing. The storyline was given away to early on in the film, you could tell within the first few scenes that Kate and Mia already knew each other, past what they were letting on. I also felt I could see the ending coming from a mile away.

The film was a part of the LGBTQ+ film festival, which I thought would have been a way of expressing the positives of the community, but instead this film seemed to show a struggle and an unhealthy relationship in the lesbian community. I also felt that there was very minimal representation throughout the film, although it follows a lot of different stereotypes, regarding lesbian behaviour and characters.

 While the attempt with the film Good Kisser seems as if the director was trying to portray a lesbian relationships and hardships that can come with it, it seemed as if she was only highlighting negative attributes of the couples relationships, and portraying the lesbian community in this way through Kate lying to her girlfriend, and attempting to cover up the fact that she had cheated on her partner in the past. Now while the negatives are mainly all we see in the film; it is a strong way of developing the characters and giving heterosexual viewers something to relate to. In every relationship there are ups and downs, and I really like the way the director took it upon themselves to show these issues in a lesbian relationship as it points out how heterosexual relationships and homosexual relationship are parallel and show how in all relationships we fight, bicker, but we also all love, and cherish. Showing the negatives in the relationships, from a neutral point of view and not Kate or Jenna’s point of view, really allows for many different viewers to relate to the struggles in the relationship while also normalizing lesbian relationships within society.

The film lacked representation of many different groups, it only really represented the lesbian community, as well as mainly only having Caucasian females. While in part this was because of the fact that it was a movie depicting a lesbian couple, there was also a lack of characters, in the film there was only 5 characters that we ever see. We see the two Caucasian women Jenna and Kate who are the couple, the third women who is involved with the couple Mia, The Chinese/Mexican female uber driver Yuka, and the Male neighbour named Clark.  With this limited cast, the representation within the film suffered as there were not enough characters to show a wide range of sexual or ethnic orientations, because of this there was no representation of people with disabilities, there was very limited representation of non-Caucasian characters as we only see a couple of scenes involving the uber driver, and there was very minimal representation of any male characters other then the few conversations shared between Jenna and Clark in the back yard. There is also a lack of women of colour in the film, “Gender dynamics of power intersect with racial dynamics so that women of color are structurally inhibited to an even greater degree” (Banet-Weiser & Miltner 2016), women of colour are at the greatest degree of intersectionality, which I believe may play a role in why there is a lack of representation of women of colour in this film.

Within the characters we did see, there were many stereotypes followed as there was the soft butch lesbian, the mysterious lesbian, and the femme. These stereotypes did seem to play a role in the power dynamics between the interactions of the characters. Kate was portrayed as a soft butch, as she was a little more “tom boy” then Jenna was, but was still very feminine in the way she acted and styled her hair, Jenna was the femme, she was portrayed as a very feminine figure, from the way she dressed, acted, and styled her hair. Mia had more of the stereotypical mysterious lesbian vibe going on, her character in the film was mysterious as we never really understood who she was until the end of the film, as she leads a second life as a famous author whose identity isn’t known by anybody. The power roles between the three show these stereotypes to be true as Kate takes on a more dominant figure as she takes control of the situation, she seems to call the shots, while Jenna seems to be slightly more submissive, and wants to please Kate so she goes along with what Kate wants and says to do. This is described as Emphasised Femininity in regard to power dynamics between females and men where females are “oriented to accommodating the interests and desires of men” (Connell 1987 pp 184-185), and this is similar to the behaviour we see between Kate and Jenna as Jenna accommodates for the desires of her partner.

The power dynamic between the couple changes as the film goes on, it starts with Kate being more dominant in the relationship and Jenna being more submissive, but as Jenna begins to find faults within her relationship with Kate, and she emerges from her shyness, the power dynamic seem to change, Kate although remaining dominant, seems to be pushed aside by Jenna’s new found courage, and Jenna becomes more confident and stands up for herself to Kate, leaving the relationship and the group date, to return home.

Overall I think the movie had the right message but fell short on its Representation, If there were more characters involved I think that the film would have had better representation. I also would have critiqued the writing slightly, Hiding Kate and Mias relationship from the viewers, making the ending harder to spot

Resources

Connell, R. W. (1987). Gender and power: Society, the person and sexual politics. Cambridge: Polity.

Sarah Banet-Weiser & Kate M. Miltner (2016) #MasculinitySoFragile: culture, structure, and networked misogyny, Feminist Media Studies, 16:1, 171-174, DOI: 10.1080/14680777.2016.1120490