Thursday, June 21, 7:00 p.m. Roxie
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| Rhys Fehrenbacher as J. in They |
J (Rhys Fehrenbacher) is a 14-year-old living near Chicago. They have been taking hormone blockers to delay the onset of puberty, in order to give them more time to clarify their gender identity, but their doctor is concerned about some of their test results, leading him to advocate reaching a decision soon about the next steps in J’s medical journey. Meanwhile, J’s parents are out of town for a long weekend, so J’s sister Lauren and her boyfriend Araz come to look after them, and they all go to a party with Araz’s family.
The focus in this film is less on the medical and psychological drama around a teenager trying to disentangle their gender identity and more on the simple human drama of a teenager reconnecting with an older sibling they haven’t seen in quite a while and catching up on their life, with the gender question present but not at the forefront. We watch a weekend in which gender is just one element. All the actors, but especially Fehrenbacher, provide deft, nuanced performances in this slice-of-life story.
The focus in this film is less on the medical and psychological drama around a teenager trying to disentangle their gender identity and more on the simple human drama of a teenager reconnecting with an older sibling they haven’t seen in quite a while and catching up on their life, with the gender question present but not at the forefront. We watch a weekend in which gender is just one element. All the actors, but especially Fehrenbacher, provide deft, nuanced performances in this slice-of-life story.
The only complaint I would register is that much of the dialogue is so softly spoken as to be difficult to make out. I literally turned my TV louder than it has ever been before and still missed what I hope were not crucial bits of the text. With that small caveat, MUST SEE.
• IMDb • Official website • trailer (YouTube) • Wikipedia •
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