A fascinatingly layered story about con artist and idiosyncratic maverick Liz Carmichael. Although, it's not about her - it's about the miracle three-wheel car that could've saved America. Although, it's not about that either - it's about the insidious treatment of trans women by the rapacious American press and how that dark prejudice still runs through the cultural discourse today. All that and it also serves as a sort of US postwar narrative about poverty, crime and the strange benefits and brutal truths of a life lived off the grid.
It's a solid documentary series with some excellent interviews but the distinctive cutout animation used throughout is a real double-edged sword, it's a creative method of delivering the narrative but it's often incredibly awkward and terribly ugly like a mixture of Angela Anaconda and the terrifying "living world" segment of Grim Fandango. Not so bad during the more silly segments, but when it's trying to be more dramatic or emotional it feels horribly stiff.
Ultimately it's a distinct and compelling portrait of a life, told with narrative flair and variable animation. Definitely worth a watch and although as stated, Carmichael is no role model, she was a charismatic personality and her story will stay with me long after the janky cut-out flailings leave my mind.
