Saturday, September 3, 2011
The Road Less Traveled
Posted by Gina at 3:35 PM
http://skipthemakeup.blogspot.com/2011/09/road-less-traveled.htmlGun Hill Road, the new Bronx-based family saga directed by Rashaad Ernesto Green both breaks new ground and gets stuck in some very old muck as well. Its 'road less traveled' is casting the role of a young trans Latina using *gasp* an actual young trans Latina, Harmony Santana. And she's in no way presented as a cartoon character, sexworker or drag queen. Green met Ms. Santana while she was volunteering at an information booth at a community event, which led to her audition and her very real triumph in the role of the family's sensitive son Michael who increasingly IDs as Vanessa. Her parents are played by veterans Esai Morales who played ex-convict dad Enrique (Morales goes all the way back as the hunky, troubled brother in 'La Bamba') and sympathetic mom Angela, Judy Reyes (well known both on TV in 'Scrubs,' numerous cop shows and as a theater actress).
[...]
Enrique comes home to find his only child isn't the baseball-loving scamp he once was. His assumption is that Michael is now a fairy and his time being raised by mom made him that way. Almost instantly, it's clear Enrique and Michael are not going to click (although, according to the film's timeline, they suggest Enrique was only in prison for 3 years, yet the script makes it sound as if he never grew up with his bio dad). Also, how many very feminine boys suddenly become that way in a 3-year period? Not too believable. I've never known a femme boy (much less a femme trans girl) who didn't very obviously read that way from a young age.
