Becoming Chaz
(Documentary)
By Andrew Barker
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117944533/"Becoming Chaz" casts a zippy, consistently engaging yet tonally inconsistent spotlight on the onetime Chastity Bono (daughter of Sonny and Cher) as he undertakes legal, hormonal and surgical procedures to become a man. Selected as the first installment of Oprah Winfrey's new documentary club, the film certainly won't lack for exposure, and could go a long way toward expediting transgender awareness, though one wishes filmmakers Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato had tamped down their almost-reflexive instinct toward cheeky humor.
Long a target for tabloid headlines, Bono came out as a lesbian in 1995, though that revelation turned out to be a bit premature. Eventually Bono came to realize he was transgendered, and as the film begins, he's undergoing hormone treatment and preparing for surgery to remove his breasts. The filmmakers are given a lot of latitude here, bringing in cameras for everything save the operation itself, resulting in a few medical gross-out moments that most auds could likely do without.
