52 Tuesdays

The basic storyline of '52 Tuesdays' is summarised by IMDb and Wikipedia, so I won't rephrase this yet another time.

Viewers (like myself) might initially be skeptical of what appears to be a gimmick in the film - all the action takes place on Tuesdays - but after the first 5-10 minutes, it's clear that some Tuesdays are explicitly weighted more heavily than others, and the film is actually well organised and paced. In fact, the technical constraint of "every Tuesday" allows for novel kinds of intrigue to develop around the lives of the central characters, Billie and James.

The substantial drama of the film revolves around parallel issues relating to gender and identity in the lives of James and Billie, both played by non-professional actors who are utterly convincing (Billie becomes especially interesting in the second half, and James is compelling throughout). There are still only a handful of widely-circulated films around transgender issues, and many focus either explicitly on discrimination or on "coming out" narratives, both of which are extremely important themes rarely considered by Hollywood. Nevertheless, one original feature of this film is its more subtle exploration of James' own sense of selfhood and intimacy, especially as the medical aspects of transitioning become more complex. The attention paid to shifting familial relationships (including some quite devastating interpersonal crises), as well as the subtle exploration of adolescent sexuality, make for many surprising turns and rewards as the film develops. The film also retains some humour at crucial moments, and benefits from a restrained use of soundtrack, so the drama never feels heavy handed.

It's also worth noting that as an independent Australian film, certain cinematographic conventions may seem disorienting to viewers not familiar with this form of social realism. Nevertheless, this is not 'Snowtown' or 'Bad Boy Bubby' - '52 Tuesdays' does not exploit graphic sex or violence to shock its viewers, and keeps the focus on character development.

Overall, very strongly recommended.

This film is both gentle because of how it was produced over 52 Tuesdays lets the story acquire a feeling of the natural-ness of time passing which for Billie is really important because 15 year olds change such a lot and this one in particular had a lot to cope with. The way the film was shot meant we got to really see Billy mature and her mother transition into James.

Billie, played by Tilda Cobham-Harvey and Del Herbet-Jane who played James were excellent in their roles, both apparently new to film acting. I especially enjoyed the performance of Cobham-Harvey whose story carried a challenging diversity as she went from being a child experimenting with sex and sexuality to having to cope with, understand and even support her transitioning mother.

A particularly sensitive exploration of the issues related to transgender.

A high school girl begins a year of sexual experimentation when her mother decides to become a man, and two older schoolmates invite her into their bohemian clique.

This Australian indie captivates through the performances of the young leads. Tilda Cobham-Hervey as Billie, the young woman who has to cope with parental separation, mum's transgender crises, and her own burgeoning sexual awareness, is riveting, a natural beauty who is testing her own strengths and boundaries. Dad (Beau Travis Williams) is over-eager to accommodate everyone, while James (as Mum now wishes to be called) is completely self-absorbed, documenting her transformation and spending the Tuesdays together with his/her daughter only talking about her/his own issues. Little wonder Billie creates a secret space and time to nurture and document her own transformation. These naturalistic, sweet but painful scenes of emerging with the three teenagers are the film's most authentic and touching. Sam Althuizen as Josh remains a mystery, a boy included for his gender more than his personality. The beguiling Jasmine (Imogen Archer) has her own family issues, and provides a brake to any self-pity Billie might be tempted to indulge in.

Del Herbert-Jane as Jane/James embodies the fluidity in gender identification that is the film's key motif. She has a fractious relationship with her own sexually ambiguous brother Harry (Mario Späte), the film's only truly annoying character, a product both of characterisation and performance. That motif is somewhat overplayed. It is deft when the characters all sport fake facial hair for a family goof around, but is hammered home in the changing facial hair fortunes of Dad, who seems to have a different degree of beard for every scene.

Billie's movie-within-a-movie works well and is in keeping with the digital nativization of teenagers of the period. Plot is less well-handled - a rush of all the characters to the hospital seems forced, and Billie's way of marking the conclusion of the one-year separation from Mum rather too showy. The uncle's interventions also seem random and intended to inject drama rather than emerging from character. But as a rites of passage tale the film triumphs, crucially on the casting and performance of Cobham-Hervey. Reminiscent of Kiera Knightley at her best, this young actress is one to watch.

The material seems like it could be uncomfortable but it isn't. It's about people faced with difficult things that they learn to live with. There are few movies whose characters I cared as much about. It's really quite a beautiful thing.

Billie (Tilda Cobham-Hervey) is a sixteen-year-old school student. Her mother (Del Herbert-Jane) announces plans to undergo gender transition. More significantly, she forces Billie out of the house and Billie must live solely with her father. Her contact with her mother is restricted to Tuesdays after school. This upsets Billie, who decides to keep a video diary.

52 TUESDAYS is less about gender transition and more about neglecting a child. Whatever turmoil the mother faces with gender change should be secondary to her responsibility as a parent. But her daughter's not as important to her and she unfairly forces her out of her own home, while allowing the older brother to stay. Billie, unsupervised, experiments sexually with two older students, videotaping the explicit experiences.

Apart from the fine performances from the actors, all of them first-timers, there's not a lot to like in this rather bleak Australian film. The characters are obnoxious, they're the type of people I go to great lengths to avoid. Billie has no respect for others, the way she speaks to her father and opens her mother's mail. And her irresponsible mother clearly has no respect for Billie. The story has no direction, just one Tuesday after the next, the date presented as a title card over news footage of world events. Clever, but this constant interruption breaks the narrative flow and makes the film disjointed.

Sophie Hyde is the director. She produced the highly-amusing documentary SHUT UP LITTLE MAN! and it's a shame she can't bring some humour to this film, her first drama feature.

Films centred on gender transition are important and should be made. It's a very real issue affecting a lot of people. In 1999 we had Kimberly Peirce's excellent BOYS DON'T CRY, featuring a standout performance from Hilary Swank.

But 52 TUESDAYS, sadly in the tradition of so many other Australian films, is depressing, plodding, vulgar and aimless.