Boy Meets Girl a heartbreaking and entertaining romantic trans comedy

http://outwords.ca/2014/issue-octobernovember-2014/home-grown-reel-pride/

Watch this movie. Funny and engaging, Boy Meets Girl sees 21-year-old Ricky and her best friend Robbie in small town Kentucky, where they grew up.

Sexual tensions play out alongside the tensions of trans life in this film that reveals small-town relationships as nuanced rather than stereotyped. Played by trans woman Michelle Hendley, the story centres on Ricky’s romantic life and the complex web of relationships she negotiates.

Rich flashbacks of the past are by turns heartbreaking and entertaining. This story is not about Ricky’s transition, but her whole life, and by virtue of that, an entire town.

Her gender history is revealed early on as she develops a relationship with her first lesbian object of affection, Francesca, who is engaged to be married to a local marine.

The situations Ricky faces display her incredible inner strength, built up over a lifetime of experience. She defends herself when necessary with matter-of-fact fierce wit. The behaviours she faces and the emotions she feels will be recognizable to most trans people. Confident and wise, she is held by the town around her.

This 99-minute film from director Eric Shaeffer will leave you connected in its sweet depth.

Published in OutWords Magazine, Oct/Nov 2014

http://issuu.com/outwords/docs/outwords_213_october_2014 page 27

– Larkin Schmiedl is a freelance journalist living and working in Vancouver, B.C.