GenderLife Forum: The Information Exchange

Does anybody know of some good movies that might be considered "Required Watching"?

I know of a couple like Southern Comfort and Transamerica, but also Bicentennial Man (I cried and got goosebumps during that one when he spoke about why he wanted to legally be human) and Blade Runner because he fell in love with a man-made woman.

I personally could not stand Hedwig and the Angry Inch or The Rocky Horror Picture show.

Try "Beautiful Boxer" true story

Its Different for girls- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMXVkOaL614

Ma Vie en Rose- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0r3CPsVKgxs

Orlando - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYA7vCkKFls

http://youtube.com/watch?v=me9dzo9P19E

"Different for girls" is my favorite.

If anyone tries to get you to watch "Normal", run away as fast as you can! And for heaven's sake, don't let any of your family see it.

Venus of Mars

Documentary about a transsexual glam-fetish metalband

Any movie without a transperson in it..and without a trans theme.

I enjoyed 'happy feet' the other night. What it's like to be different.

Oh in that case.. " Shoot 'em up " ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0465602/ )

A.k.a. One man with a carrot fetish finds himself stranded with a baby, that everybody wants to see dead. He picks up a hooker and finds amazingly creative ways to shoot his way through a truckload of bad guys.

What's it got to do with Trans people ? Nothing really.. but it's still a damn good movie.

The best one I've seen is from the UK, and titled:

"Different for Girls" ..

A good movie to watch for anyone is Terry Gilliam's Brazil. IMO, the most intelligent thing ever made on film, and the more relevant the more time passes.

A future when individualism is kept under check through bureaucracy, consumerism and "térrorism" used by the state as a tool of social control. Where people feel they must have plastic surgery after they turn a certain age.

Everything can be subtly controlled, but one's dreams and feelings. A masterpiece.



INTERVIEWER: Deputy minister, what do you believe is behind this recent increase in térrorist bombings?

HELPMANN: Bad sportsmanship. A ruthless minority of people seems to have forgotten certain good old fashioned virtues. They just can't stand seeing the other fellow win. If these people would just play the game, instead of standing on the touch line heckling...

[...]

INTERVIEWER: And the cost of it all, Deputy Minister? Seven percent of the gross national product...

HELPMANN: I understand this concern on behalf of the tax-payers. People want value for money and a cost-effective service. That is why we always insist on the principle of Information Retrieval Charges. These térrorists are not pulling their weight, and it's absolutely right and fair that those found guilty should pay for their periods of detention and the Information Retrieval Procedures used in their interrogation.

INTERVIEWER: Do you think that the government is winning the battle against térrorists?

HELPMANN: On yes. Our morale is much higher than theirs, we're fielding all their strokes, running a lot of them out, and pretty consistently knocking them for six. I'd say they're nearly out of the game.

INTERVIEWER: But the bombing campaign is now in its thirteenth year...

HELPMANN: Beginner's luck.

---
And the amazing scene in the Information Retrieval ministry, when Sam Lowry goes to report to work for the first day:



In a society where you have to present IDs left and right and there are cameras, spies and microphones everywhere, that scene is much more pointed.

"Information Retrieval" is an euphemism for torture, and that ministry is where all the information about people is processed, and where it is decided who may be too subversive to be allowed to keep on breathing.

A great movie and the only one that, to me, deserves the 10.0 rating. Of course, the best dictatorship is one where no one realizes it's in fact a dictatorship.

Yes!

I loved happy feet. Great movie.

Bobbie

What was so bad about Normal? I loved the way they matched the music to the different stages. Then again, maybe I am just too weird.

I agree about 'Different for girls' it's many years since I saw it but it's one of the reasons I'm sitting here typing on this message board.

As is a rather naff British horror Movie. Made by the Hammer Studios I first saw it soon after the dream of transformation started too grow inside me. Doctor Jeykell and Sister Hyde was the well known story but with a sex change twist. When the Doctor drank his potions made from women's hormones he was transformed into a stunning Edwardian beauty who kept killing women to get more hormones.

It's years since I saw it, but again and for obvious reasons the next film stuck in my mind. Unfortunatly I missed the start of it, but I still remember whole swaiths of the story. In 'I want what I want,' a young man leaves home, I think becaause he was caught cross-dressing and moves into a bedsit. Whilst there he starts to go out dressed and one of his/her flatmates falls for her/him, However when the flatmate find out she is still fully equipped she performs the surgury herself and is rushed to hospital. The last shot is her waking up as a complete woman.

More recently there is 'The Crying Game' where Jaye Davision plays a Transsexual wo falls in love with a soldier. I can't quite remember the plot, but Jaye made a good woman.

I love the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Alas, hmmmm... Probably some good movies that I consider required viewing are: The Terminator, Commando, Running Man, Total Recall, Conan the Barbarian, Conan the Destroyer, Red Sonja, The Last Action Hero, Junior, Kindergarten Cop, The Sixth Day, Collateral Damage, Red Heat.

Also if you can find a copy of Avalon (in Polish with English Subtitles) that's a great movie.

And Marci, "Brazil" is the traditional Christmas movie -- for what reason people....

Ah no. For me, there is only one perfect Christmas movie.

Burton's Batman Returns.

"No Dumb Questions" : a documentary chronicling three girls finding out that their Uncle Bill is becoming Aunt Barbara. The girls are amazing.

Do I need to buy this movie? I can't get it on netflix it seems.

It was an okay movie. I saw it when it was released with a couple friends. I never bought it. The guy playing the tranny did a good job, but still I'm not hung up on movies. I had enough to deal with in real life. I never did see the entire "Boys don't Cry" either. Some shit hits too close to home. That's why I'll take an Arnold movie.

Kara, yeah, life is real enough. I want to be entertained by a movie, not having it rubbed in (in not particularly good ways). I am biased because Different for Girls is from Europe (UK). Sorry to hear that it got to you.

I've only seen two trans related movie Soldier's Girl (in tears) and Transamerica (rather depressing). And Shrek III does not count, I guess :-) Though, my 8yo daughter figured out the bartender.

I prefer to watch comedys myself..

Here"s a little clip from one of my favs:

Spaceballs

I agree that Different for Girls is a must see. As I was considering transition it gave me a view of what a somewhat normal life might look like. A sweet story and Rupert Graves is hot! If you decide to buy the DVD be sure it's in NTSC format. Discs from the UK or Australia won't play on USA televisions.

Breakfast on Pluto is a very good story about a an androgynous young man making his way around Ireland and the UK. Sad and funny it stands as a great film regardless of the gender theme.







Yet a third entry from the UK, the Velvet Goldmine takes place in the mid 70s Glitter Rock era that gave rise to artists such as David Bowie and T-Rex. Gender bending characters, some of whom you may recognize as thinly veiled stand ins for true pop icons of the era.






I really enjoy European films. They manage to be engaging without a single thing getting blown-up!

Breakfast On Pluto, Soldiers Girl, and Transamerica are the only ones I've seen. The first two were well worth it.

Actually, Netflix had it in stock, and I received it back in
2004 .. perhaps they stopped carrying it for some reason ..



http://tinyurl.com/yphky3

Different for Girls didnt get to me. It was a distraction, though. Boy's don't Cry was a different story altogether. I didn't see "A Soldier's Girl" because I'm getting the similar theme to "Boy's"

Fiction is one thing, but when it really happened is another.

None of 'em. Can't stand watching that stuff. Couldn't watch Crying Game in its entirety (I had to close my eyes at the reveal scene)

Spoiler refers to my feelings when I watched the movie. Could be disturbing. Sorry.


Won't even try watching Boys Don't Cry. Soldier's Girl, ditto.

Rocky Horror's good fun, but hey, I like all that weird stuff anyway. Been on the back row with water, newspaper, rice and stuff in the late-night double feature... I wouldn't recommend it as an introduction to the theme, however

Todo sobre mi madre has a t-theme of sorts, but IMO Almodóvar doesn't treat his trans women too well.

Actually, the only t-themed movie (I don't count Rocky Horror any more than I would count Monty Python's Lumberjack) that has not made me cringe or collapse has been Ma Vie en Rose.

Soldier's Girl is a must see. Also read the orignal 'Frankenstein" by Mary E.Shelley. White oleander, Memoires of a Geisha, The little mermiad, Tokyo Godfathers, Tru Confessions (disney movie), Mean girls, and tune into Ugly Betty. But I urge you if you can watch Tru Confessions it is amazing! I am biased because I'm only like OBSESSED with Shia Labeouf but he was tremendous in this film and he was like 13/14 the eldest if that old when he shot it. So catch it if you can.

Better Than Chocolate has a strong, supporting transwoman character (played convincingly by a guy) who is portrayed well. And you will *love* the cabaret song she does.

P.S. I should have mentioned before, but Better Than Chocolate is a Canadian film set in Vancouver. This is one of the reasons why it's such an enjoyable film.

Ma Vie en Rose is the only movie with a trans *main* theme that I consider close to my Top 200.

But I much rather watch a great movie that has nothing to do with TS people than a mediocre movie with a TS theme.

I've had enough of it with my life, gosh.

Different For Girls is well done as so many have said.

I will mention two movies that others haven't. One is called Zerophilia and the other is The Iron Ladies. The latter is a true story about a Thai volleyball team (in Thai with subtitles) made up of trans and gays that wins a title after officials tried to have them banned. It was made in Thailand without a lot of money so it's not the best work but worth seeing.

Zerophilia is a movie about people that find they can change sex after having sex or during and how the people discover love does not have anything to do with gender. It's a relatively unknown film but well worth watching. I was taken by one of the opening scenes because I quickly realized I'd sat on that very spot when I was in college(it was filmed in Eugene, Oregon).

Neither of these movies is trans specific but have ideas and feelings with which most of us are familiar.

I watched XXY on Netflix last night. It's about a 15 year old intersexed person raised as a girl grappling with ... everything.

It's an Argentinian film in Spanish with English subtitles.

Beautiful Daughters on netflix. =) Just putting that out there as it's history and history of this board in particular.

XXY is a good film but it does have a triggering scene in it of rape. Other than that, excellent film.

Le sexe des étoiles (1993)
Set mostly in Montreal.
Excellent and little known low budget movie.

Prodigal Sons is a good movie it is a Documentary that I really enjoyed..............

Priscilla Queen of the Desert.

As much as i *love* the idea of this topic (creating a giant list of TG-oriented movies) i honestly find it a little bit... prejudice. I really dont mean any offense by it, it was just sort of irking me and i thought i'd share it to see if anyone else felt the same way or if i was thinking about it to hard.

I find it a little bit..... offensive of this topic.... as much good as it does, i see it on the same level as "Know any good black people movies?" or "know any good movies for lesbians?" or anything like that. Just because were all *trans* doesnt mean we all have the same taste in movies. Sure we may all relate a little better to certain movies, and we may appreciate certain particular movies because of the struggles and the like, but the limiting factors of "good trans movies" is it lets OTHERS do the same thing. "Oh thats just a trans movie, us normal people wouldnt like it". It creates an "Us" and a "Them", which only splits us.

I kinda disagree on one level and agree on another level. So let me lay it out.

By having movies that we in the community can by and large say, "Yes this is a good or accurate portrayal," it allows others who aren't involved in the community to maybe get a feeling of what we're doing. It can be good for the community as much if not more than it's bad. There is push and pull in almost everything and I'd think it would be worthwhile to catalog movies that have a positive trans presence.

BUT I'd take it a step further and say, yes these are all fine movies or whatever, but trans people are more than that. What I've not seen in this list is movies that might give a transperson insight or direction in whatever they are doing. There are plenty of straight people movies that embody characteristics or a culture that we are, in fact, growing into. Penelope comes to mind as a great trans movie in this genre in which there are no trans persons in the movie, but that it has something identifiable with both transwomen and bio-whatever-is-pc women and is enlightening on more than just the surface layer(Also great costuming). In essence, what I'm saying is, that it doesn't have to be trans to be trans-positive and we're better people for exploring all of those aspects and rounding it all out.

See Le sexe des étoiles

It definitely strikes a realistic balance between the points of view of the "betrayed wife", the long suffering transperson, the former workmates and the poor grade school kid caught in the middle. It gives some idea of what can be expected if the family is neither supportive nor completely hostile.

Well, there are "good portrayals" but there are not "accurate portrayals." Pretty much every movie that 'the trans community' would consider a 'good portrayal' is totally sanitized to lay out the most palatable image for the general public.

There are trans street walkers, there are trans drag queens, there are transfolk who don't care about passing, etc. That's the reality of it.
But those folk are real human beings suffering the same crap that those of us who are the 'passable, professionally employed, feminine, married to a man' types that would be considered a 'good' portrayal by many.

It's similar to the gay rights movement in the 50's. The gay rights organizations only put forward the gay folk who where straight appearing, relegating the queens, leather daddies, etc. to the shadows.

Ironic, though. It was the queens, etc. that sparked the stonewall riots.

Just because it isn't all encompassing, doesn't mean it's not inaccurate. Most portrayals will show an average until we have enough of a library that it shows otherwise. There's just not a lot of room for nuance. And I think it could be argued that drag queens are portrayed actually a lot more than other transgendered women but they'll have to speak to the accuracy. The large bulk of our portrayals are short and defamatory. But the ones listed above get it more right than wrong and while specifics may not be 100% it's way more accurate than comical guy in a dress. My problem is they've already been listed 100 times before in a similar lineups.

And my point still stands... More movies that are good for trans women that aren't specifically trans movies I think would be just as helpful with identity and finding oneself.

Dean Spade at Barnard:

http://vimeo.com/4596216

Impossible People:

http://vimeo.com/4596582

A New Movie thats out it has limited playing, its called Gun Hill Road. They have a TG playing a TG in the lead role.

These two films aren't ground breaking but I found them both very enjoyable.

TransAmerica

Different for Girls

personally i found transamerica tedious at best ....

Ther crying game is the best along with different for girls and life of brian

Escape from LA?

Ok, awful movie, but Hershe las Palmas was totally kick-ass. The whole 'trans' thing was handled in like a few lines, then she continued in her role as hard-core gang leader.

And she was played by Pam Grier. Pam Grier could kick Chuck Norris's ass.

And a gg playing a transwoman? Respectful on the movie makers part.

Felicity Huffman's character in TA was conceived as a man trying to learn how to act like a woman. I found that conception insulting and patronising. That was never me, and I daresay it was never most of the women of transition I have known over the years.

I've never seen Different for Girls, but I would like to.

Southern Comfort was excellent, focussing on Robert Eads' ordeal due to his insurance company's refusal to pay for treatment of his ovarian cancer (since he was no longer female under his plan). He died of the disease.

Seconded for XXY. Very absorbing AND disturbing.

I'm surprised no one mentioned Ma Vie en Rose. Though little Ludovic was supposed to be gay not trans, I believe.

I am hearing great things about new movie coming out calle "Gun hill road"

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1525838/

http://youtu.be/09zgt6-f_b4

sorry forgot how to embed video's so copy and paste ..

V For Vendetta

Heaven 1997-98 , stars Danny Edwards and Karl Urban as the main characters. It's really good. REALLY GOOD. Check it out.