Beyond the Opposite Sex
- Director: Emily Abt; Bruce Hensel
- Producer: Bruce Hensel; Stuart Krasnow; Francine Bergman; Linda S. York
CGiii Comment
At the risk of offending...but, it has to be said: Rene is frighteningly [and worryingly] aggressive. Steroids maketh not you a man!
Seriously, not a pleasant experience, spending time in his company...as for doing an online PhD...online PhDs maketh not an academic!
Then...there's [way too much] country-singing Jamie - she has used this film to promote her music, nothing else.
A good idea, re-visiting old subjects...shame the 'old' subjects weren't as refreshing as the idea...but, that really is the fault of the filmmakers - who did both 'subjects' a disservice!
Trailer...
The(ir) Blurb...
Frank, honest and illuminating, Beyond the Opposite Sex follows two love stories, one of a trans man and one of a trans woman. Formerly Jim, a macho man raising a 12-year-old daughter, Michigan-bred Jamie is now a sensitive singer/songwriter (and Trump supporter), living in Kentucky with her girlfriend, after having several affairs with men. Since transitioning, woman-to-man Rene, a spirited, angry Texan, has left one girlfriend and started a new relationship.
Fifteen years ago, two acclaimed Showtime documentaries chronicled the experiences of these two people; this is the revelatory follow up film. It goes beyond the usual documentaries about the process of transitioning to focus on the challenges of building and maintaining relationships in hostile heartland America. How will Rene’s fiancée’s family react when they find out that her boyfriend was born a girl? How do Jamie and her female partner survive in a town where it is too dangerous for them to hold hands?