Gendernauts – A Journey Through Shifting Identities
Picture: C
Sound: C+ Extras: C Documentary: C+
I have not been a big fan of the work of Monika Treut,
more for form and presentation that even content, but sometimes that has been
lame too. Seduction: The Cruel Woman
(1985, reviewed elsewhere on this site) was a bomb, no matter how well intended
it may somehow, have been (I guess). The
Virgin Machine (1988, also on the site) was another narrative work that did
not work, but it was more successful by default by simply having some coherent
moments that actually rang true. Gendernauts
– A Journey Through Shifting Identities (1999) is an outright documentary
project and is the best of the three by default leaving Truet’s pretensions
behind and giving us a view of people still forced to live somewhat in an
underground.
She interviews many transgender males and females, who she
befriends on a journey to San Francisco, where persons who want to live their
life this way can do it more openly than in most parts of the world. This easily works best when the people we
meet are the focus; their joys and dreams are just like everyone else’s, even
if the type may strike many as unusual.
The resulting near-90 minutes are never heavy handed in this respect. Though not a great work, it is a simple,
direct and honest one. More could have
been made of this opportunity or be done with it, but this is not bad, though
we have seen the subject covered a bit better in other documentary and fiction
films. Still, those interested should
be sufficiently satisfied.
The 1.33 X 1 image is soft and the camcorder taped events
often on the fly, meaning the image is too often shaky, even when the subject
is interesting. This was shot on older
analog NTSC video and has some color bleeding as well. The Dolby Digital 2.0 is barely stereo and
again the sound that was taped on the scene on the fly. It could be worse, but it could have been
better. Extras include a trailer,
bibliography, text essay, text on cast and crew, stills, two outtakes and two
on-camera interviews that run about 12.5 minutes each.
- Nicholas Sheffo
