Gender-transition film heavy on challenges
Good intentions abound in “3 Generations,” a movie about a New York teenager transitioning from female to male, but they lead to a certain overzealousness.
The makers of the film really want viewers to know that a young person in this situation has to deal with a lot.
Elle Fanning is the character whose birth name was Ramona but who is well on the way to becoming Ray, a decision fraught with obstacles.
Bullies, for no particular reason, send Ray home with a black eye. His own relatives can’t stop referring to him with feminine pronouns. His mother, Maggie (Naomi Watts), tries to be supportive but remains full
“3 Generations.”
of doubts. His grandmother Dolly (Susan Sarandon) is in a lesbian relationship and living a life with all the trappings of liberal New York bohemianism, but she, too, is balking.
“Why can’t she just be a lesbian?” Dolly says.
That alone would make for a movie’s worth of material, but “3 Generations” — directed by Gaby Dellal (who wrote the screenplay with Nikole Beckwith) — crams in much more.
Because Ray is underage, the consent form for the transition requires both parental signatures, and the father (Tate Donovan) has not been part of Gaby Dellal. PG-13 (for mature thematic content, some sexual references and language) 1:32 at the Drexel Theatre
the family for years.
The search for him and his reaction to the request still aren’t enough; the movie adds yet another complication late in the game, a plot twist that strains credulity.
Ray is courageous just for making the decision to change sexes. The film — which, by the way, includes a surprising amount of droll humor — would have been better had it trusted the audience to recognize as much.