Educational Media Reviews Online

Real Boy is in many ways like so many other documentaries about transgender teens, such as Becoming More Visible or Becoming Johanna. Like those, it focuses on its subject’s transition, following a 19-year-old trans boy, Bennett, as he prepares for his top surgery (i.e., breast removal).

The film makes the excellent choice of exploring, however briefly, the lives and experiences of two of Bennett’s trans male friends. Although his best friend, Dylan, is only fleetingly seen, his mentor and fellow singer-songwriter, Joe, is almost as important a presence in the film as Bennett himself. Considering that many trans people have a large circle of trans friends, this is a welcome departure from the traditional documentary plotline revolving around the subject’s cisgender friends and family.

Joe’s presence also facilitates the exploration of Bennett’s identity beyond his gender, as an aspiring musician. In a welcome shift from other films, Real Boy thereby frames Bennett’s transition as an important part of his life, but only a part. It also discusses Bennett’s and Joe’s struggles with self-harm and addiction, though it does not place these in the larger story of transphobia leading to such self-destructive behaviors.

The main focus of the film’s promotion is Bennett’s relationship with his mother, who is initially opposed to Bennett’s transition and even attempts to prevent him from solidifying his transness. Over the course of the film, she softens enough to support him begrudgingly, and eventually fully. While that response is not uncommon, it is one that’s relatively rare on film, which more often shows parents who either are supportive from day one, or never come to terms with their children’s gender.

Nevertheless, Real Boy never quite feels like it’s accomplished what it’s set out to, as too many storylines are left half-told. How does Bennett’s or Joe’s transness affect his addictions? How does Bennett grow his music career? Why is Joe more sympathetic to Bennett’s mother than Bennett is? How does Bennett resolve his questions around romantic relationships, if at all? These questions go unanswered. That being said, Real Boy is recommended for academic and public libraries, for its story of “a mother[’s] own transformation” along with her son’s, and because, as Bennett implies at one point in the film, a plethora of trans teens’ stories can only be of benefit to others.

Awards:

• Audience Award, Best Documentary, Frameline Film Festival
• Best Feature, Iris Prize Film Festival
• Best Documentary, TWIST: Seattle Queer Film Festival
• Best Documentary, LesGaiCineMad
• Audience Award, Best Documentary, Austin Gay & Lesbian Film Festival
• Best Documentary, Durango Film Festival
• Best Documentary, MiFO LGBT Film Festival
• Best Documentary and Audience Award, OUT at the Movies
• Best Documentary Feature, ImageOUT
• Audience Award, Best Feature, Pride Film Festival
• Audience Award, Best Documentary, ReelQ
• Queer Youth Jury Prize, Oslo/Fusion