Review: Disclosure

-
Trans rights are human rights

This documentary follows many trans actors, filmmakers, activists and writers as they talk about the history of trans representation in films and the impact it had on them.

There are many voices that are not heard enough in the film industry (any industry really) and trans voices are among them. Having so many talented trans artists in one film talking about movies was an absolute treat. More than that, it was an education.

I'm obviously coming from a privileged point being a cis white woman, and I was even more aware of it watching this. I had never considered a character like Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs trans representation, and yet that was one of the biggest cultural references of it at one point. Breakfast on Pluto is one of my favorite movies, and I never thought about anyone other than Cillian Murphy playing the lead role. A wide variety of films are touched up on here and I can only hope that we start to see more representation as we move forward in the film industry.

 The only negative thing I have to say about this is that I wish it was longer. I feel like this could've been an entire series instead of a 90 minute film. 

 Recommended: Yes

 Grade: A

Memorable Quote: "The fact that we study and teach DW Griffith without saying a word about the representation.." - Yance Ford (honestly the entire point he made about this was perfect)

Comments

  1. Cinema RecallJuly 10, 2020 at 2:58 PM

    I want more Trans People in front and behind the camera as well as stories about this culture too. But at the same time I don't want to limit who can portray trans characters or tell stories about them either. I would love it if one day a trans director made a blockbuster with trans actors portraying any gender and we dont make an issue out of it.

    For example American Psycho was `1st written by a man. The script was written by two women and one is openly gay. They wrote a movie featuring mostly a male cast and male protagonist. Now I say this because that movie could have been made by men and it would be a very different movie, but women were behind it and it was different. I worry about trans filmmakers being pigioned holed into only directing movies about trans characters and I dont want just that. I never saw Buffalo Bill from Silence of Lambs as being a representative of Trans People and whoever actually thinks that is a bigot

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamJuly 11, 2020 at 7:02 AM

      Personally, we're at a point where trans actors are barely getting in the room, so they should be the ones in line first to play trans characters. Before I would've agreed, especially since Breakfast on Pluto is one of my favorite and Cillian Murphy is obviously not trans, but there's thousands of roles out there. Let trans actors tell their stories first.

      I hope trans filmmakers don't get pigeon holed anywhere either, but there's so many creative people out there, I'm sure there are plenty of stories to go around.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Thanks for stopping by, let's talk movies!
(comments are moderated to reduce spam)

Popular posts from this blog

Random Ramblings: The Radio Flyer Conundrum

-
Image
Recently, I was talking to someone about who I thought were the best child actors when I was also a child.  Two that really stood out to me were Elijah Wood and Joseph Mazello, and one film those two were in together was called Radio Flyer.  Then I was reminded about the uniqueness of this film. Instead of reviewing the film, I wanted to have an open discussion about the ending. It deals with a tough issue; child abuse. What I’ve noticed is the way that the film ends is interpreted many different ways, and the filmmakers never came forward to say what was right and wrong. I’m interested in hearing everyone’s opinions on it. How did you interpret the ending? Obviously spoiler alerts will follow.. For those of you who haven’t seen the film, the basic premise is this: Two young boys, Mikey (Wood) and Bobby (Mazello) move in with their single mother and her boyfriend, who refers to himself as ‘The King’. It doesn’t take long for The King to start physically abusing ...
Read more

Indie Gems: Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

-
Image
Passionate about your profession? I had never heard of this film until it ended up on one of Jason's favorite horror movie lists around Halloween. It immediately sounded interesting to me, so of course I threw it in my Netflix queue. (and if I'm just now watching it after adding it around Halloween, you know how ridiculous my queue is) Taylor (Angela Goethals) is a journalist who, along with a film crew decides to follow around a serial killer named Leslie Vernon. (Nathan Baesel) He plans on doing the typical slasher thing - getting a bunch of drunk teens in an abandoned house and knocking them off one by one. He gets advice from a retired serial killer, Eugene (Scott Wilson) and is threatened by a man who's on to him, Doc Holloran (Robert Englund) Taylor and crew are there capturing it all. Leslie Vernon is fucking hilarious to start with, and clearly very passionate about what he does. He tells Taylor all of his secrets and can barely contain his excitemen...
Read more

My Favorite Movie Youtube Channels

-
Image
Starting around 2018, I started watching Youtube for more than just movie trailers or music videos whenever a new one dropped. Now I'm in full blown subscription mode and don't bat an eyelash at watching a Youtube video that's over an hour long. I watch Youtube for a few different categories of content, but one of them that I love most is movie/TV essays and commentary, and that's what I'm going to talk about today. Below is a list of my favorite movie related Youtube channels. Let me know if you're familiar with them too, or if you have any you'd like to recommend to me.  Double Toasted - I'm honestly surprised this channel isn't bigger. I first came across Korey and Martin when they reviewed War for the Planet of the Apes a few months before it hit theaters and I thought they were hysterical. While their full length videos stream on Twitch, they often upload their movie reviews and commentary on youtube and they're always hilarious. They've...
Read more