Boy Meets Girl

Boy Meets Girl (2014)

A film festival award winner including the Jury Selection at the Bloomington Pride Film Festival (where I saw the film), it’s no wonder this film about hope, faith, and love is a favorite. It’s a love story that transcends preconceptions of who we love. I can see this being a film that takes its place among the genre classics of the past few decades.

My synopsis: Boy Meets Girl is a film about love between people, about how to love another human being, regardless of gender. Ricky has been friends with Robby for many years. But as things heat up between Ricky and her new friend Fran, we also start to see how Ricky and Robby could be a couple. But Robby is straight and Ricky is trans, so we have to see if it’s really meant to be.

One of the first things I love about this film is that it is funny. At times hysterical. One of the reasons I think this movie can succeed outside the LGBT film circuit is that it takes a topic that is either unknown or uncomfortable to people and at times makes light of it. As someone who typically deflates a tense situation with humor, I like this approach. The trick or treat scene made me laugh out loud.

The film gradually delves more into what it means to be transgender, and how that affects someone’s life and those around them. It explores the idea of sexuality sometimes in an almost playful way, but at the same time talking about serious things.

Ricky is played wonderfully by Michelle Hendley. I wasn’t aware of it beforehand, but she has a YouTube channel where she has shared a lot of her own life. I haven’t seen her in anything before so I think she is a newer actress, but she won Best New Actress in a Feature Film at the FilmOut Festival. (Kohner, para 14)

There are some other storylines that flesh out the film. One is with Fran and her fiance David who is coming home from the Middle East, but there are circumstances that cause some conflict. I think that not only was this part of the story told well, but it also seized an opportunity to talk more about their sexuality and relationship. The ending of that sub-plot could have been left out, but that would have been unfortunate as we get to see a deeper discussion.

One of the main themes in this film is to be true to yourself. Yes, this theme has been explored many times, but not like this. “We’re so lucky to be alive, no matter our circumstances… You are a perfect little boy… or girl.”

We also look at human sexuality, and the concept of loving another person, another human being, for who they are and not their gender. I think it’s something that only a few films have explored, and this one goes further than the ones I’ve seen.

It looks like Wolfe Video is distributing this one, and it’s still showing in film festivals and select theaters. I’m looking forward to seeing this one again, and I whole-heartedly recommend that you see it!

Trailer on YouTube