THE DAY I DECIDE

THE DAY I DECIDE

Thursday, Oct. 24, 6 p.m.
JCC Theatre, Free

When I was fourteen years old I still thought that the word “genitals” was hilarious. Sometimes I still do. So it's borderline mind blowing for me to see kids that age use such terminology not only with a straight face, but in correct clinical context alongside words like “hormonal” and “sexual reassignment surgery.” I realize that this is the generation for which cell phones and mutual funds are standard acquisitions by mid-puberty, but to hear a transgender fourteen-year-old calmly talk about her T injections (that's testosterone. See?) floors me to this day.

Guido is eleven in The Day I Decided to be Nina (). He tries on dresses at a store with his mother, and later wears them to a friend's birthday party. Billed as fiction, the movie is shot in hyper-realistic, documentary form, and has a dreamlike European edge to it that glues you to the screen, even if you're not sure why.

Junk Box Warrior () is a black and white art piece set to poetic voiceover, and would have fared better if the vocal delivery matched the melodramatic images in intensity.

But Just Call Me Kade () is truly exemplary of what can be accomplished in 26 short minutes on a minimal budget. The documentary follows Kate Farlow through her transition from female to male over a period of several years, taking in her family and friends but mostly focusing on her. Kade's courage and maturity at fourteen are inspiring, and his successful relationship with a girl at the end leaves you with a sense of hope that these movies rarely do. -- WD