Queerguru first came across Brit filmmaker Jeanie Finlay’ in 2015 when we were bowled over by her documentary Seashorse. Her sympatico telling of the story of Freddy McConnell, a determined Brit trans man who wanted to give birth was a remarkable testament of faith by McConnell in allowing the cameras to film every part of his extraordinary journey. To avoid the story becoming the slightest bit sensationalized McConnell had assembled his own crew to be able to tell his story and then entrusted Finlay to take over. It turned out to be the perfect call.
It was therefore no surprise to see Finlay using a combination of both respect and objectivity in making her latest documentary ‘Your Fat Friend.‘ another story about a much-shunned minority.. It is the tale of 200 lbs Aubrey Gordon, who insists on labeling herself fat, on her journey from being a very successful anonymous blogger to publishing her first memoir ‘What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat”. It means that she has to go public in a climate where there is such unfettered hatred of people like her that includes serious and worrying threats of personal violence.
It’s impossible not to become fascinated with such admiration for this articulate woman as she bares all to Finlay’s camera. So much so that I find myself questioning my own inbred attitude to fat people. (Gordon insists we avoid polite synonyms like obese, corpulent, rotund, overweight.)
I grew up in an orphanage in England in the 1950s (yes, I am that old!) where we had to cope with food rationing as the whole country was still recovering from the sheer cost of the recently finished WW2. So I have no personal recollection of having any fat kids in my circle. We grew up with black kids in our family unit so we had no inkling of racism, and as we were a bunch of horny teenagers living in dormitories homosexuality was the norm.
Yet between then and now we somehow became body shamers, something that we have never really honestly confronted until we watched the film.
Gordon’s own mother succinctly sums it up when from her personal experience she says There’s something about saying things out loud that makes you see them anew,” And although this is Gordon’s story, we eventually realize that the Finlay’s film is less about her than the society around her
Your Fat Friend will be screening https://www.dctvny.org/s/firehousecinema and than released in US movie theaters
Review : Roger Walker-Dack
Editor in Chief : Queerguru
Member of G.A.L.E.C.A. (Gay & Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association) and NLGJA The Association of LGBT
Journalists. and The Online Film Critics Society. Ex Contributing Editor The Gay Uk &Contributor
Edge Media Former CEO and Menswear Designer of Roger Dack Ltd in the UK
one of the hardest-working journalists in the business' Michael Goff of Towleroad
Labels: 2023, Aubrey Gordin, documentary, Jeanie Finlay, review, Your Fat Friend
