This month Rialto New Wave celebrates the first time directors of some outstanding Australian independent films. The brilliant 52 Tuesdays screens tonight in the first of the series, the film has received significant critical acclaim and important to note it took out the World Cinema dramatic Directing award at last year’s Sundance Film Festival. I would have to agree with Melbourne critic, Tom Clift at Concrete Playground who said of Sophie Hyde's directorial debut 52 Tuesdays - it’s honest, insightful and bravely against the grain, a magnificent debut for cast and filmmaker alike - and it absolutely is, for a first time film, both parties nail it.
This month Rialto New Wave celebrates the first time directors of some outstanding Australian independent films. The brilliant 52 Tuesdays screens tonight in the first of the series, the film has received significant critical acclaim and important to note it took out the World Cinema dramatic Directing award at last year’s Sundance Film Festival. I would have to agree with Melbourne critic, Tom Clift at Concrete Playground who said of Sophie Hyde's directorial debut 52 Tuesdays - it’s honest, insightful and bravely against the grain, a magnificent debut for cast and filmmaker alike - and it absolutely is, for a first time film, both parties nail it.
The all powerful and universal theme of family is central to this film. The need to live an authentic life is also asserted and though sometimes uncomfortable for the viewer, questions how each of us relate to gender, sexuality and identity in our lives. It’s a coming of age story – for both mother and 16-year-old daughter, Billie – that follows the two in different plot lines as mother announces plans to change from Jane to James through gender transition. Billie moves in with her dad but commits to Tuesday after school visits with her mum – they do different things together including talk about the processes of gender change and James’ progress with testosterone shots.
It’s an unusual narrative structure built around the two protagonists who meet every week. The film was shot every Tuesday for one year with the actors given scripts one week at a time so as to create an authentic feel of the narrative unfolding. In this sense the way the film was made and has been told is unique. Filmmaker, Hyde talks about the film as a genuine investigation of narrative, commenting “these rules or parameters helped us explore how we make films and how we construct our lives, instead of the industrial model of a film shoot that’s normally 6-8 weeks, we filmed for a whole year, so it’s kind of closer to the working model of documentary making.”
And, the subject of the film is just as important to discuss as its experimental narrative form. Hyde talks about a culture that has a very constructed idea of gender and says the ways in which it is enforced everyday is problematic not just for the people who reject gender, but for all of us. Billie’s storyline in the film looks at how she deals with her mother’s decision and I guess in reaction she finds herself the need to explore her own sexuality to make sense of it all. We see Billie get involved in a complicated love triangle with a couple at school. The relationship between the three escalates beyond disastrous measure, which ultimately ends in an intervention by teachers and parents. Billie, for sure struggles with some stuff and gets occasionally lost, but in the end it’s a strong-willed and gutsy character that shines through.
The filmmakers point to their particular interest in the tension that sometimes exists between being a mother and being ‘yourself’ and this film is a dramatic way of expressing that. “Being raised as a woman makes us behave in certain ways” says Hyde “despite being raised to really think I could be what I wanted to, as women we are also raised to not make a fuss, unless it is for how you look.”
Which brings me to question - what does it mean to be a woman or a man for that matter? The debate surely extends well beyond the personal and becomes more political.
This discussion becomes all the more interesting just at a time when there’s been much buzz about a member of the Kardashian clan in the process of gender change. Dare I mention the Kardashians but they’re a great example – especially since they dominate so fiercely in social media and the entertainment sector. For those of you not in the know, to fill you in, 65-year-old Bruce Jenner is a former Olympian and reality TV father who stars in Keeping Up with the Kardashians – the longest running reality TV series that has seen the stars of the show make millions. For the longest time I thought Bruce Jenner’s transition from male to female was the biggest publicity stunt to hit earth, I couldn’t have been more wrong. There has been much speculation about Jenner’s life changing decision to transition into a woman and his changing look is evident in the current season of the series. Jenner is said to announce in an upcoming episode of KUWTK his choice to sex change and is set to star in his own doco-series about it. And, important to mention, support for the transgender community appears to be a force to be reckoned with. Singer-and-actor Jamie Foxx has been very publicly slammed from all sides this week after making transphobic jokes at Jenner on stage at the iHeart Radio Music Awards in LA over the weekend.
I truly believe we as a society and culture are amidst a time of change, which I think is a great thing for all of us. Hyde talks about images of transpeople being more accepted in the media these days and a surge of trans films that are being made which shows that people don’t conform to gender. You’ll enjoy 52 Tuesdays for its break out talent and there’s no doubt in my mind it will make for interesting conversation afterwards.
Screening Times:
01/04/2015 08:30pm
05/04/2015 10:15pm