It’s Lesbian Visibility Week, and this little-known film needs to be seen by all lesbians and the people who love us! I urge you to make a note of it, because it isn’t available to stream yet, but hopefully, that is about to change. It screened recently at Boston’s Wicked Queer Film Festival.

Still, a rare bird is a dyke story with good production values, good acting, good chemistry among the characters, and an intriguing plotline. The film is funny, sexy, adorable, and rather disturbing as well. 

It opens with the main character Josie standing outside a recreation field in a Boston area neighborhood. She strikes up a conversation with a stranger, and this may be the most excruciatingly awkward conversation ever to open a movie. Josie announces that she is an alternate player for the lesbian soccer team on the field, but she is just motivated by a need to meet lesbians. She babbles on as the woman reveals she’s straight and just hanging around while her kids are in the playground, and beats her retreat when Josie goes on and on about her take on the male organ.

Meanwhile on the field, a dyke named Emma has just roughed up another player, and the coach is calling for an alternate. Now Josie and Emma are facing off, and Emma continues her super aggressive moves, all the while with a cigarette hanging from her lips. Josie counters with a game-ending shoulder move that leaves Emma bloodied and gasping from a broken nose. And thus begins a “meet cute “(and bloody) love story between an assertive and bossy butch jock and an awkward and submissive femme.

We see their story unfold in a series of flashbacks and flash forwards, some of them set to some pretty cool music, and the technique hooks you into continuing to see how it all plays out. Although the film moves forward and backwards in time, it’s easy to discern the narrative. No backstory is given about the characters, giving it a sense of being always in the moment. This also opens up many questions, providing a great opportunity for discussions.

One aspect that has yet to be noted in any commentary is that Josie is clearly a woman on the autism spectrum. She is lovely and appealing but overwhelmed with awkwardness and appears to have only her brother and sister-in-law to turn to for support. This is a groundbreaking role handled beautifully by the actress, Nika Ezell Pappas. Since the autism community has a very high percentage of nonbinary and queer members, it should be widely seen and discussed there.

Boston area viewers will be delighted to see rising star Petey Gibson, aka Mary Dolan, a role she has played in local and online performances for years. As her character, Emma falls in love and into a Dom/Sub relationship with Josie, the issue of how much control and domination should occur in a relationship outside the bedroom is very much present, but not addressed in the script or by previous reviewers.

Finally, the plot hinges on Emma’s lung cancer diagnosis, illness, and treatment.  She urges Josie to find a new lover while she is still in the picture to approve the choice, telling her: “When I die, I want you to play the sympathy card.” Clearly, this is a risk-taking film, a rom-com that hinges on many tough issues while remaining irresistibly watchable. Please see it, and let’s talk!  

The film was written/directed by Brendan Boogie, to find out where it will screen next http://www.thesympathycard.com/

 

Review: Janet Prolman

Janet Prolman was born in Boston, Massachusetts, where her mother nicknamed her “my little queer.” She has also lived in North Carolina and New York. A lover of short stories, theater, music, and performance, she knows the lyrics to almost every song or advertising jingle she’s ever heard. Now on Cape Cod, she enjoys kayaking and frequenting Provincetown.