Real Boy
- Director: Shaleece Haas
- Producer: Sam Berliner; Shaleece Haas
CGiii Comment
Once upon a time...the word 'sick' meant ill, infirm, nauseous...now, according to the urban dictionary, it means something entirely different: seemingly 'ultra-cool' is the new sick.
If you can radically change the meaning of a word...it follows that 'man/male' no longer means man/male (with a penis)...because, dear hearts, that great big well-endowed elephant that inhabits every second of this film is completely ignored! The penis!!! That piece of flaccid gristle that has defined gender for millennia...well, babies, throw that notion out with bath water and baby...haven't you heard, there's no such thing as 'gender' anymore!
To become a man...take testosterone, change your name, grow a beard, get tattoes, wear a cap and some ill-fitting appareil, get an elective double mastectomy - and you, my son, will be a man!
Who needs a dick when you're sick?!? Well, perhaps, that little heterosexual lady that falls hook, line and sinker for your masculine charms! But, hey, heterosexual doesn't mean heterosexual anymore!!! Where and when are we gonna draw the line?!?!
Now that we've got that off our chest...no pun intended...you can see where this film didn't go, what it avoided and why we got a film no different to all the rest! There are no easy answers with transition...but, at least, you could try and tackle them by asking the difficult questions!
Bennett's mother tries and is shut down with a verbal barrage...well, Bennett, she stuck by you...unlike your other family members. How difficult must it be for a parent to go through their child's transition? Periodically the film touches upon this...but, slides back to the me-me-me self-centredness that predominates every film of this ilk!
Real Boy has played most LGBT film festivals, picking up awards all over the place...even for editing [seriously?!?]. Like the Oscar-winning, over-lauded Moonlight, this is film-making that ticks all the right boxes at the right time.
Yes, the Awards and Festivals are all driving down the same politically correct boulevard...fooling no-one but themselves!
Trailer...
REAL BOY trailer from Shaleece Haas on Vimeo.
The(ir) Blurb...
REAL BOY is the coming-of-age story of Bennett Wallace, a transgender teenager on a journey to find his voice-as a musician, a friend, a son, and a man. As he navigates the ups and downs of young adulthood, Bennett works to gain the love and support of his mother, who has deep misgivings about her child's transition. Along the way, he forges a powerful friendship with his idol, Joe Stevens, a celebrated transgender musician with his own demons to fight.