When I saw the one very low rating and a bunch of 9 and 10 ratings I got worried that this film was going to be a dud, hyped by crew and friends, but I'm glad I made the effort to check it out.
The pluses are this is a very strong concept well thought out and executed. The writer director hasn't shy'd away from some uncomfortable repercussions of the premise which is essentially saying people are who they are on the inside regardless of what they look like on the outside, and it definitely tests that hypothesis.
It is a little bit 'woke' in it's presentation of that and doesn't really acknowledge concepts of physical attraction.
I thought the acting was really good, very natural and did pretty well to convey the one person many faces thing.
I really liked the world building aspects, ie the big out, the local bar that specialises, the help group and their meeting, etc and the central character managing to miss all of it.
The things it didn't quite manage to deliver was selling the core attraction of the 2 main characters, the why they should bother with each other angle, and any explanation of the why this is all happening, although I think that perhaps that was a wise move in that there isn't a scientific point to be made on the mechanism, more a point to be made from the mcguffin of the set up.
As much as I support the perspective on gender fluidity and inherent nature of us all on the inside that's not the world we live in, and it would have been cool to have seen so acknowledgement of the traits of physical attraction and sexual orientation, beyond the 2 guys get it on scene. How does our changeling character who has said she is female and identifies as female feel about being changed against her will to Male, and does she sympathise with our central characters difficulty in deal with this?
Questions to be answered at another time I guess, but for what it is this movie is not a 1 star piece of junk made by amateurs, it is a thought provoking and interesting concept, acted and shot well, and doesn't shy away from the deeper and possibly more uncomfortable aspects of it's premise.
