Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Lingua Franca (2019) dir. Isabel Sandoval
30 Plays9 months ago
For Pride Month, we watched Isabel Sandoval's fictional, yet powerful tale of the trials of being a trans woman in today's society and the perils of being an undocumented immigrant during the Trump administration.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Movie Quotes
00:00:00
Speaker
This is a song to all the ladies. I am big. It's the pictures that got small. I am Catwoman. Hear me roar. A woman! All this way for my advice, I feel like Oprah. A woman! The person you're seatbelts is going to be our bumpy knight. What the hell? I'm not going to worry about if people accept me or not. I'm going to make Hollywood wherever I am at. Ah, as if! It's good to see you, Mama. It's good to see you, my darling. I finish this work for you.
00:00:43
Speaker
You need help with that? Okay. I'm sending this to my family back home. If you want, I can drive you to the post office. That's okay with your boyfriend. He's not my boyfriend.
00:01:04
Speaker
You're safe now. You're here with me. You don't know what you're talking about.
Monday Blues and Summer Weather
00:01:10
Speaker
Hi, everyone, and welcome to the Screen Queens, where we discuss the selection of movies directed by women from the silent era all the way to the modern releases. I am your host, Tapia Leitoudibo, and I'm here at my co-host, Cee! Yay! How are you? How's it going again? I am making it. I'm making it. It's Monday, right? Yeah. um don't remind me
00:01:37
Speaker
it is Monday. It's a true Monday today. It's a Monday in the summer in Tejas. Oh yeah. How hot is it? It's hot. It's already hot at Yeah. It's not even, it's not even cute hot. It's There is no way to be cute in this heat because it's also super humid. So whatever it says on the little dial is not what it actually is. It's hotter than that. um And C is not in Tejas.
Living in Different States
00:02:02
Speaker
She's probably in a cooler region somewhere. You know, it's funny. I'm next door. I'm in Arkansas, but it's just far north enough that I think it's 80 today.
00:02:12
Speaker
right it's like just enough um And I am in the hills of Arkansas, so I'm closer to Missouri, where we get snow and stuff like that. As I call it misery. misery yeah ah look That is how it's spelled. i read three Every time I try to, sorry, if you're from miss ms misery Missouri, see this happens. Every time I try to say it, it comes out as misery. I apologize. I'm not this in your town state. um not too
00:02:44
Speaker
It just is what it looks like, you know? Well, I mean, it makes sense. Like, especially you, I can't, I can't imagine moving to another country, not only having to learn all of its things, but then it's like, okay, so y'all are broken up into states. and my cities and then cities town is how we keep and then counties and then bleeps. please Just yeah random places. And this conversation is going to be very useful as we talk about our movie today, which is about, you know, being a
00:03:19
Speaker
Not at home in a home, yeah you know? Not at home in a home.
June's Notable Events
00:03:24
Speaker
It's still, you know, guys, this is our second podcast in June and it had to happen just because there's a lot of notable things happening in June. So first of all, we have Father's Day that's coming up. We also have Juneteenth. I'm here representing Juneteenth. And the big one, you know, I'll be safe the best for last. It's Pride Month. um And if you're not into Pride, this is not a podcast for you. Please go away. Bye.
00:03:55
Speaker
But, you know, I wanted to do more, um, this month for pride. Like I wanted to talk more about movies
Social Media Presence
00:04:05
Speaker
related to pride. So on our Instagram, we will be posting everyday movies that are, that have queer stories that are by queer directors and just kind of share just the length and breadth of pride. Um, and I've, I've selected some really great movies. So you should go on Instagram and just see all the little video clips and trailers that I have posted. Um, there's just so many interesting stories in this one is one of them. So what's the The IG is screen the Queens. So, um, very simple. Just screen the Queens and then we're on Instagram. Um, and we're also on YouTube. You can watch our faces talk about this movie, um, in the best way possible. Um, but yeah, so it was really important for me to like pick something, um, queer in, uh, I'll dive into a little bit more why I picked this movie.
Introduction to 'Lingua Franca'
00:05:00
Speaker
First of all, the movie we're going to be watch that we watched and we're going to talk about is Blingua Franca, which was a 2019 movie directed by Isabel Sandoval. Um, and she is a Filipina director, writer, like she does.
00:05:16
Speaker
all of it. And um this is actually her third um feature-length movie. She's done like a few, but this is the one that, this is the first one she's done like that was filmed in the U.S. And why it was connected to our previous conversation, because it's an immigrant story. It's a story about a woman who you know is in the U.S., She's undocumented um and she's trying to get a green card. She's trying to get the American dream and just the struggles that she goes through. But there's another layer to it. Like when I first came across this movie, um my initial thought was it was just an immigrant story. um And then as I read more about the plot, I saw that it was also a trans story.
00:06:07
Speaker
And kind of just like that layer of being trans and being an immigrant and being a person of color all and this is all taking place during Trump's America. Like, can you already feel your shoulders like doing this? You absolutely can. Like, you can just feel your body start to clench and we'll get to it. But there's a moment in the film where she's like, I am exhausted and I felt every bit of that exhaustion. everybody too just like
00:06:40
Speaker
but like you so You also like wanted to cry because it was um such a raw scene at that, but that's an exhausting um position to be in, right? Yeah, yeah in and it was, you know she's one of those directors, it seems to me, where she doesn't really shy away from telling truthful
Distribution and Diversity Focus
00:07:01
Speaker
stories of the way things are. like She's not trying to like preach to you or anything, but she kind of just peels back the layers so you can kind of see into the world of different kinds of people that you might not be used to seeing every day. um And so it makes complete sense that this movie was picked up by
00:07:25
Speaker
array I don't know if you know the platform Array, but it was founded by Eva DuVernay, who you're probably aware of. um If you've ever seen Selma, she directed Selma. She directed A Wrinkle in Time. siri She directed the fun-loving TV series When They See Us.
00:07:49
Speaker
Hashtag not guilty, um but you know who is. i am Anyway, so they they basically distribute, um they do a lot of like creative things, but their focus is ah creative work by black people, by people of color, by women. And so they bought the, I guess bought this movie to distribute and um you can basically see this movie on Criterion. um And so that's where it's available. And I just want to have just a little pitch for the Criterion channel. yeah It is my favorite. It is my favorite streaming platform that exists. it's just And the reason for it is like if you are into movies, if you are a film buff, if you're a critic, if you just love movies in every form possible, it's just the perfect channel for you.
Praise for Criterion Channel
00:08:43
Speaker
Because I can't hype it enough. like it it just has I've learned so much about different directors from different countries, different types of films, different types of movie making. I've seen silent movie era films that I never was exposed to. I never would have been exposed to because they're not showing up in the cinema. And I've seen movies by certain types of direction, like Isabelle Sandoval, that I also wouldn't have seen in a movie theater. It's just a wealth of stuff from different cultures, different perspectives. and But now they have their kind of ah live stream where they're basically 24-7. They're just playing criterion movies, no commercials whatsoever. It's back to back. It's almost like the Russian roulette because you just jump in. They don't even tell you what movie it is. There's no information whatsoever. It's just you're going in cold. Like you go in cold and you're sitting there is like, I have no idea what movie I'm watching. but You also are just like drawn to it. You're drawn to the colors, you're drawn to the story. i'm So I've been having a blast with it. So I highly recommend y'all sign up for it. It literally is like 10 bucks. yeah and but that It's the best 10 bucks I ever spent. I've had chances upon chances of pausing this and I never pause it um just because
00:10:03
Speaker
Every month, I just feel like there there's new stuff, you know? And their job is to preserve movies. And so I feel like they're doing a great job. Anyway. That's great. Yes. Back to very great back to this movie. um Give you a little brief about the
Olivia's Immigrant Struggles
00:10:21
Speaker
movie. um This is about a woman called Olivia, who is living um in the US. Again, it's set in the backdrop of Trump's America. You can kind of hear it in some of the
00:10:35
Speaker
back audio that's like spilling out um over this movie and she's a Filipina immigrant. She is trying to get a green card and she has this agreement with this guy that we never see um where I guess they're gonna have some sort of arrangement maybe get married and then um she'll get her green card that way and she has other friends in the same situation um that have found a way to you know get their green card but along the way something goes wrong and
00:11:08
Speaker
um this guy backs out. And so in the midst of that, she is basically taking care of this old and Russian lady um who I love when they call her babushka.
00:11:26
Speaker
Yeah, there's something about the word babushka. It just feels like a warm cup of soup, you know, like she's going to take care of you. But yeah, so all Olivia is basically a care, a home care nurse of some kind. She's taking care of this old lady who Chloe is having bouts of probably Alzheimer's. So she's very forgetful. She doesn't know where she is sometimes. And in the midst of that, she meets her grandson, Alex, and a bond for forms between them. um
00:11:57
Speaker
But, you know, again, what's what's really interesting, by the way, to the story is that um she is trans and she is a person of color. And so there's all of those anxieties floating around, not just trying to get a green card and the fear of being deported, but the fear of being outed as a trans person. It's just so much. And it was such a powerful movie for, I mean, what, it was like 90 minutes. It's not even- Yeah, it's a short movie. Anyway, I've been trying for a while. You wanna like- Yeah, you want me to jump in there? Yeah, what did you think? I thought this was a very beautiful film. I thought the moments that there's no dialogue,
00:12:43
Speaker
or the very little dialogue and how it kind of moved in and out were very beautiful. um It made New York look less gross. How that even possible? How is that even possible? It made New York City look less gross where you, um I feel like in many ways it was introducing me to New York City in this way that I haven't had a chance to experience just yet, where Um, or I haven't experienced in a while, especially I haven't been since before the pandemic at this point. Yeah. Um, I think that was one of my last trips was to New York, and but it was a a very fun place of a boisterous place. Like, and if there's all these different things to see. Um, but I did calculate.
00:13:30
Speaker
that we had a couple of pivots in the film that I think kind of encapsulate the the various chapters. um One is labor and another is desire yeah and fear. yeah And then it kind of like circles back around again. So in that first chunk of the film, you know you get that grind of New York. like Everybody has to go to work. Everybody's got to go to work. Everybody's got to fight the subway system. Yes. How many jobs do people work in New York, I feel, is always a question.
00:14:03
Speaker
Yeah, just to make it, just to make just to subsist, not even thrive, just subsisting, you know. Exactly. And Olivia is subsisting, right? She absolutely is. It's like she, you immediately understand that she's got to work. She has to send money home. yeah She also needs to secure her living. Yeah. um And she's also going to put money aside for this green card situation because she's paying somebody. Exactly. you She's paying someone to kind of pose as a boyfriend along the way um so that when they finally do get married, they have pictures and events and they've gone out and they've met friends.
00:14:44
Speaker
all in exchange for money. I'm just like, God, the world we live in. This person wants to work and they just want to be a productive member of the world. Yeah. all That's all they want. They don't want anything else. That's all that they want. to have kind of the you know because One thing I found really powerful was in those moments of when nothing appears to be going on where she's sitting at the bus station or the or oh she's walking or she's just kind of going through her life there are news um audio yeah um interviews with president trump And just kind of the way that they talk about immigrants and the way that they um describe them. And it it kind of is this stark contrast with this woman who, like you said, she just wants to live
Media vs. Reality for Immigrants
00:15:39
Speaker
her life. She's just going about her life. She's going to work. She's taking care of this old lady.
00:15:44
Speaker
you know She's meeting her friend, she's going to church, like they meet up here in church. And then to have the the vilification of them on the news as this disease, as this um thing that's invading the country, you know I love the juxtapose between those those two things. Because the director is like, look for yourself, like yeah make that decision yourself. These are the two. um perspectives. right so Absolutely. you decide yeah I think something that was also beautifully done um by the director was highlighting like those moments when nothing is going on, as we say, those mundane moments. like Everything is still happening. right
00:16:29
Speaker
and so very I always think about this in public space, and I don't know. I don't know why I think about it so much, but you just never know what's going on with somebody. You you never know what's happening to the person next to you, or the person in the car next to you, the person that calls the street, and how we interact with each other. and That's why for me, we should be a little bit more responsible. But this woman, is she looks beautiful. she got She's on her way to church. You would never know that this person is dealing with all of this other stuff. And I think that was on purpose. I think those moments where it doesn't seem like anything going on. And, you know, I noticed kind of like,
00:17:13
Speaker
you even when there was people around and there was things happening around her, you could feel her loneliness in that space because, you know, we as the the gods of this movie, right? We see every aspect of her life, but everyone is just going about their lives. They don't know what's happening with her. They don't know the anxiety that she feels every time she hears a knock on the door. Like all of that stuff is all happening internally.
00:17:44
Speaker
And we kind of, if you pay enough attention, you can see it on her face, but the world just goes on as normal. Like it doesn't even pay attention to that. And so I thought that it was beautifully done to show us the loneliness and how we all, we really don't
Introduction to Alex
00:18:01
Speaker
know. Like someone might be walking in our space and seem like they're fine, but they might be go, they might have the way of the world on their shoulders. Absolutely. no Absolutely. And so similarly to some degree, You have um Alex yeah and that's the grandson of Olga. new Very, very quickly we learned it's kind of the fuck up.
00:18:25
Speaker
There's always one. one in the valleyally Keeping a job problem. He has an alcohol problem stemming from his alcohol issues. yeah um that And he has very much that young and dumb. I won't finish the rest of that phrase.
00:18:47
Speaker
young and dumb and and just not thinking about what happens after what happens next. Yeah, he lives like he's almost like living like a toddler just in that moment. And then again in that moment, this is what I'm going to do. And it's by impulse and he's so easily influenced by everything around him. You know, like that first moment where we meet him and he's come back into town and he's going out with his friends and, you know, he's obviously making a concerted effort not to drink.
00:19:19
Speaker
Yes. And his friend is like putting pressure on him and making you seem like he's some sort of weirdo for not drinking. And he just gives in and it's like, you you could tell like there's this, there's a struggle that he's going through. and And I wrote this down as like, these two people are struggling in their own way. from her um You know, even though Alex is a white male, you know, he is struggling with, you know, alcoholism. He's struggling with the perspective his family has about who he is. He's trying to be different, but there are all of these negative influences around. It almost feels like he's back with his high school ah friends. yeah you know He left to get away from, and there's a lot of toxic masculinity floating around in there as well. And he's trying hard to to be different. um But it's it's the old behavior is just pulling him back. So I noted down that like they're both struggling in their own way alone. And maybe that's what pulls them together. Absolutely. Absolutely. Lean back from the mic a little bit.
00:20:28
Speaker
like there
00:20:31
Speaker
mean that that know just it's good it's good um I said that because it was starting to pop the peas. oh
00:20:46
Speaker
I heard it. Like after I said it, I heard it. This is what editors are for. They will level it all out. Yes. I figure I was like, Greg will probably do some, some razzle dazzle. Um, but yes, absolutely. Absolutely. Um, Alex has, is dealing with his own things that I have never been in that kind of situation where, um, I need to drastically change my behavior and my surroundings in order to stay out of trouble or whatever we're, you know, whatever, however we're defining the trouble. And that's really difficult for him, probably because he has half a job. He don't have any money. He's also, they moved him in with grandma Olga because nobody else wants to take him in. No, no. The wives were like, no, your brother can't stay with us. Yeah.
00:21:39
Speaker
All of the brothers and their wives and the uncles are just like, no, you can stay with Abushka, who is losing her mind, really. Also, Abushka absolutely adores him. You could tell he is her favorite. Yeah. Because when she when she she gets all nice and pretty for him, and when she meets him, she just she just holds on to him. He's remembered. So like to everybody else, they don't understand, like, aren't you not seeing this? This problem? This wreck of a person. And Abushka is like, don't say anything about my Alexi, my little boy, okay? Yeah, she holds on to him and that actress, she's been in so many things. Oh my God, so many. So many things. I feel like I've only ever seen her this old.
00:22:25
Speaker
in all the movies. Yeah, he's exactly. And you know, she had a stint on Sex and the City back in the day. um She played the nanny. Okay. And I believe she was playing a Ukrainian man, a nanny. That woman is quintessentially New York though. She is. If you need a New Yorker, you this is who you are. Exactly, exactly. She's just so adorable and just loves loves Alex, which I'm sure has to be like um the baby grandson. Yeah, the baby grandson. But sometimes, you know, like grandparents, they they just latch onto like one of the kids that maybe reminds them of
00:23:07
Speaker
And I think it's because he reminded her of her husband. um I think they they were looking at some letters and stuff and reading it. I know this because my husband's grandma, like he's... I don't know how to say it publicly, but he is the favorite. i mean And she always talks about how he looks like her her husband, Bob. And I think that there is something to that with grandmas and their grandsons. And he's like second. So he's not even like the youngest. He's like the second. Um, so yeah, there's that connection that they have where it looks like their husband and they're just like, you're my favorite. Yeah. yeah and you like oh do no wrong yeah You remind me when, you know, it's that kind of thing. when And so continuing from that Olga, which people do when they are going through dementia or Alzheimer's. It's it's very crass to say losing their mind. So I apologize about that. um But when people are going through that, they're constantly trying to hold on to something. So you see them looking through photos. um They try to stick to a routine of some sort, reading, whatever it may be. And Olga pulls out a love letter is that yeah her husband used to write to her, which she said later she found out he copied them.
00:24:25
Speaker
She finds out that he copied them from somewhere, but still he learned English and tried to figure out how to write his own. yeah um And I think this moves us into that kind of like chapter of desire.
Olivia's Attraction and Identity
00:24:41
Speaker
Alex reads them and as he's reading them, Olga is there listening and Olivia is there and Olivia starts to feel very attracted to him in this moment. Oh, yeah. No, because we got you like either later on in her mind where she's really pleasuring herself. And I was like.
00:25:01
Speaker
I turned to my husband. I was like, this is some steamy stuff. It was very beautiful. It was very beautiful. It was very tasteful. It was like it was still hot and sexy without like objectifying her. You know, like I was like, yeah. yeah okay um there is still so just like what i find interesting is when her headphones were in so that you know that this was a fantasy. Yeah. um And there's a moment where she, she ah traces her own hand down her leg and then his hand ends up on top. So now he's a part of this fantasy fantasy was like, I was like, girl, get it. Yeah. Yeah. yeah yeah It was very, very beautiful. It was very beautifully done.
00:25:57
Speaker
Um, and of course, let me see, this is right when I think like the next day she gets a phone call from Michael and Michael is the dude who was setting up, who was going to help her get her green card. Yeah. Uh-huh. And he basically was like, peace out. I have met someone else who also wants a green card, but I'm in love with her. I was just like, OK. And he claims to return that he's going to return her money. um I don't. that I know. Right. I don't see. I don't remember seeing this in the film or it mentioned again that she's given the money. me I don't think they me. I think she it kind of she goes to her friend and she's like, OK, so I'm going to need I'm going to need another.
00:26:44
Speaker
I haven't knew because this is not or this is not working. This guy is pulled out. um And of course, in the midst of it, there's this conversation about Alex and, her um you know, they obviously as he's moved in, there has been a friendship or a connection between them that has been building. and you know she doesn't really i I love that her she doesn't see it as an option yeah for her situation. like it's just It's so sacred.
00:27:19
Speaker
to her that she, you know, even when it's recommended by her friend, like, Oh, what about Alan? And she's like, no, no, no, he's, he's a nice guy. He's, he's a good kid. Like, I don't want to drag him into this because essentially we'll call it what it is. It is fraud. yeah yeah Um, but no I mean, we all do what we need to do, but I love it. You're like, it is fraud. yeah My definition. So, and I, you know, I don't think she wants to complete the two and I respect that. I really do. well You would never know how he would react, right? Because at this point, her
00:28:02
Speaker
her They've only had fantasies about each other, really, or just kind of like interests. They haven't spoken about anything. anything no No real flirting has happened just yet. yeah so i this is a very precious thing. We try to stay in this country and not be outed. Exactly. So I don't know what I would do in that instance either. No, but I loved the car ride they had together. It was, and here's the thing, and I probably should have said this at the beginning, the hit thing about this movie is whenever I watch a movie involving
00:28:39
Speaker
trans people. I have such anxiety. I like, I feel very protective over them. um Obviously living in the world that we live in right now where they're constantly being attacked, you know, and those encounters usually result in death. Yes. You know, and so I was stressed for a lot of this film and I think Sandoval did a good job of trying to alleviate that tension a bit. Um, but every time she was with a straight white man, I was like, agreed the fact that Alex works in a meat packing oh yeah um ah warehouse. Like I was terrified. I was like, is this for shortening? Yeah. Because we're hearing about, Oh, this is how the meat is processed. This is where the cows are brought in. This is where they are skinned. So on and so forth. And
00:29:33
Speaker
I was very much like, dear God, I hope this isn't it what this is. yeah And then I also thought, Thumpé wouldn't pick this. I mean i wouldn't know. That's a big case. You wouldn't know. I was just like, Thumpé probably wouldn't pick something like that. Yeah. I mean, I didn't think of it in that way. I had thought about it. Like the types of personalities that end up in those jobs don't necessari necessarily tend to be the most open minded. um No shade if you work in an e-pack in industry, but it is what it is. um and so And even if you don't, even if you just if you were even if you work in finance or you work in whatever, it's just generally when but you know cis males come into contact with trans women,
00:30:17
Speaker
it's Let's just say that the numbers aren't great of yeah what happens next. like it's not the The usual result is, oh, that's great. I'm so happy for you, um which is what we would like bla um so like. For this whole time, I was like stressed for her, particularly when the relationship with her and Alex started building into something and it was becoming physical. And then knowing his friends and the influence they had on him, I was really worried about what would happen to her. um Really, really worried. I felt very protective. I felt very motherly over her. um And I don't know if there is a way to ever do it.
00:31:05
Speaker
where you don't feel that anxiety. um I mean, I can't speak for other people because depending on your views of trans people, you may not have felt that anxiety at all. right like For me, I was just like, I don't know that there's a way in any movie that you could do this and not stress people out because Everyone's thinking about the world we're living right now. Yeah. So I guess like our society would need to change a little bit so that we're not projecting onto a film. I don't know where. did feel like some kind of fear. And so lo and behold, they have a car ride to the post office. They flirt a little bit and sometime if it's not that night or the next night, they do have sex. And it's very much like two people
00:32:00
Speaker
kind of when I think about like colliding into each other in like the best of ways, like they both just want, not only do they just want each other, they don't give a shit about what else is happening out here. yeah you know There's this world that's created with just them. Like the like I said earlier, like the the loneliness and the struggle that they're both experiencing separately, you can always send this when someone else is in the same boat as you. And I feel like that's probably what pulled them together, even if they might not have thought like, Oh, I'm experiencing this, you're experiencing this. And this is why I like you. This is kind of a on scene force that just kind of pulls them together.
00:32:47
Speaker
And I do, I love, you know, I'm from a different culture, my husband's from a different culture. There is something beautiful about when two cultures come together that wouldn't normally, like you wouldn't see that. And when we think about the name of the film, Lingua Franca, like that's yeah that's the term. It's a language but used to communicate between groups of people who speak different languages. And in this case, It's just it was something unspoken, something human, something based on love and kindness and mutual respect that just brought them together. and i just it was It was beautiful. That sex scene was also just like... I'm sorry. I've been thinking about that sex scene ever since I watched it. That was a good one.
00:33:32
Speaker
It was so sexy that I, too, felt things. I like a good week. I was like, how much can I reveal on this podcast? it like I thought it was very beautiful. It was very beautiful. It was very tasteful. It was hot. It was steamy. It was everything Cardi B would want in a wop, wop, wop. But yeah, no, I, yeah you know, we don't, we, we really just focus on, and this is the important part, we focus on Olivia's pleasure. Yes. Yes. Yes. just Again. i am Yeah. And it wasn't a moment where there was a question about genitalia. There wasn't a moment, of a question about like anything really. yeah
00:34:22
Speaker
and was so woman and man getting together having some sex my yeah and doing the doing the deed. doing in the ded um And then after doing the deed, you have to continue all your life. So you see let me tell you that's always the truth. Like, okay, I've had this fantastic night. Yeah. I still have to get up and go to work the next morning. wet want a hustle but yeah like even Even that moment together is not doesn't even feel real. It feels like an escape from your day-to-day life. It felt like you went on a cruise or something yeah for like five hours. um You got wet.
00:35:04
Speaker
There you go. I love it. I've definitely had those moments where um it happens at the same... Talk about reviewing something on this podcast. It happens at the same time. It happens like right around when someone's head is right around here. And I'm like, this this is happening? Yup, yup, it's happening. Why are you in my space? Proximity.
00:35:30
Speaker
and like oh god but with here and you were doing a breathing stop yeah but just hot air on my neck like that's what like oh yeah the thing is happening oh like so let's see They continue going on with their lives and lo and behold um ah Michael is introduced to the picture and Michael is Alex's one of his stupid friends. His friends that he says slurs, he has like no filter whatsoever. He's a thief. We know this because earlier he stole something from Alex. Like he's constantly pulling shit out of people's pockets if he can get the chance. Yeah, and he stole yeah he stole money from I think Olivia.
00:36:15
Speaker
And yeah so he started going through her stuff while she was out because she yeah she has time off. Like she doesn't work like seven days a week. She has days off where she might go somewhere else, even though she stays at that house. And in that time, when he, when Michael, he's there, he goes through her stuff and he finds her passport with her, basically her original sex from when she was born, like yeah the sex she was born as, before she transitioned. um And so he shows that to Alex, and that is truly when my anxiety escalated.
Identity Revelation and Tension
00:36:55
Speaker
Right? Like them coming together was a relief from that. And then the minute that he shows um Alex the passport, it's like, oh shit,
00:37:06
Speaker
Now it is confirmed that Alex didn't know and now he's trying to figure out what to do about it. And he starts to he starts kind of, he can't even figure out his own emotions cause then he started drinking again and he's not showing up to work and basically just. relapsing yeah yeah while he struggles with this news. Also, I have two very favorite fingers for this friend who outed this woman
00:37:38
Speaker
I was so pissed. I was like, first of all, that was not your news to tell in the way in which you did it. where and you like I feel like the real crime was going through her stuff for your own benefit. I was i was so mad. and ah that was That was for me too. It's just like, You come home drunk. I bring you into my home because you need a place to crash for the night. Yeah. And you proceed to go through people's things to violating that trust. Yeah. It's like take their money and just like look through their stuff. who are you? My man is for the streets girl. yeah That's another one of those like that kind of person you cannot have in your life when you're trying to get something straight. right When you're trying to be and it is hard you know and I talk about this you know when I when I talk to Greg about like male friendships
00:38:33
Speaker
they You know, when you, there are people that you outgrow and it's hard. And maybe this is not just male friendships. Maybe this is women's friendships too. If you do not let go of certain types of people, you will always be pulled back to your old self. You never really get a chance to evolve, right? And that's what's happening with Alex is that obviously his friend has never evolved. And he had, at least had that chance to do that when he went away. And when you come back home, you know, when you go to your old town where you grew up and everyone remembers you as teenage C or teenage Toppy or whatever, yeah it's really hard to fight that when you are completely a different person. ah And so you have to make a conscious effort to
00:39:15
Speaker
just move away from those people. Um, and it doesn't, it's, it's really hard to do, right? It's not a simple thing. So I'm not going to be like, well, Alex, why don't you just dump your friend, you know? But when your family doesn't even want you, you go to the people that are still including you and we're bringing you into their lives. That's a good, that's a good, um, uh, analysis of that. You do like, you because we all want belonging. and right We all want to belong somewhere and to be somewhere. And so that's exactly what it is. Um, but Alex rightfully so defend, defends Olivia and it's like, shut up. Don't tell anybody about this. Go to sleep. I don't know that it's defending. I think he was trying to protect himself. There we go. Yeah. Protect himself. So I think he was just like, he didn't really, in that moment, the initial reaction was fear of
00:40:05
Speaker
you know, being found out because I mean, in the examples that I've seen and I'm not, I don't want to generalize, but in the example I've seen, it usually goes like, OK, you don't realize maybe the background of this person and then you are intimate with them. And then there's a fear that you will be seen as gay, um even though that's not what it is with a woman. It's like, you know, i even even the my husband was like, that was a woman. period I had the same conversation with my neighbor over the weekend. She was like, so, cause I was telling her about this film. She was like, if this is this and this is this, aren't they gay? And I was like, no. No. because When I was doing it, I was doing it with women. I had no, there was no thought in my mind that this was not a woman. So yeah it's a woman like period. That's it. Um, and I think the, when I see that train of thought, I think what it was for him was like,
00:41:03
Speaker
I don't want you telling anyone until I figure out what what I'm gonna do. Like, I'm gonna figure out, like, cause, I mean, at that point, he'd be like, she's my girl, but he didn't, you know? So I... I mean, we can all take different perspective from it, but to me, I thought that he was protecting himself. Absolutely, that's a way better. I was disappointed, but I also, I've seen it happen so many times, so I wasn't surprised, you know? Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. so Yeah, but it just, then then there's this kind of, you know, he has this information,
00:41:42
Speaker
And he proceeds to... Honestly, I was like, Alex, what you doing, my boy? My brother in Christ. Why would you not tell this woman what happened? Instead, this stupid ass story, that some guy with a ski mask, comes into the office and might have run through her stuff because she's looking, she's trying to find her things. um And she can't find her passport because she needs that for, you know, obviously c what she, because I think she was going to try to get a new passport that would show that she was, that her current identity is female.
00:42:21
Speaker
yeah and um instead of and but what What made me really mad about this is there was a period before that where they were talking and she tells him like, hey, I'm trying to basically stay here. i you know i She reveals her fear of the police. In fact, there was once there was a moment where they're they were walking and they see someone being dragged out by ice. Right. Yeah. And and then, you know, so he knows even when he came up with that story, he knows that this is a point of stress and anxiety for her. And so coming up with this story and not providing any context
00:43:03
Speaker
and making it seem to her that ICE has been to the house to raid her house and they're just waiting for her to come out of wherever and they're going to grab her. Like I was like her like, I feel like that was the wrong move. It was absolutely the wrong move. It was cruel. it yeah It was cruel. And this is where we shift into fear i so if our Chapter one was labor and chapter two is desire. Now we're into the year where Olivia is freaking out. She's talking to her own girl Trixie. yeah about like
00:43:39
Speaker
Oh, this is what he said would happen. And of course, Trixie picks it up immediately. Like, that makes no sense. yeah Why would ice come to your house in a ski mask? Why wouldn't one ice person come to your house in a ski mask? It takes some of your things when they could have just taken you. you ah it's a pe like it's She's like, none of this makes sense. Does he have it? You know, that's fear. Fear is like so irrational. Like you don't think it through, particularly when it's happening to you. And she likes him. She likes him. So she's going to believe.
00:44:13
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's hard, you know, i'm shit is hard as a black woman today. God damn, I couldn't imagine it being hard as a trans black woman today or trans woman of color state. And there's something to um we've all I think all of us have had that moment where someone is like claiming you publicly or willing to do it or even desires you a little bit. You're like,
00:44:43
Speaker
And he would be that they would be threatening you or lying to you in any way. But I mean, to me, that felt like a level of control by Alex. Absolutely. It was it was such control. And I don't know, maybe he thought and then, you know, obviously when you don't have good role models, whatever, maybe he thought they'd he was doing a good thing by not telling her, by covering up that fact that he knew because you know he invited her to go to, I guess, did they go to Coney Island or something? I think they go to Coney Island or Atlantic City. what Yeah, they go to this little, they have like a little vacation and it's sweet and it's romantic. And if you didn't have the context that
00:45:35
Speaker
Alex knew that she was trans and that she is literally just kind of vibrating out of fear that anyone's going to pop out of the bush any moment now. yeah yeah If you didn't have that, you would think this was like the sweetest, most beautiful encounter. He's whisking her off. She's probably never been on holiday ever. no no And he, you know, they get a hotel and whatever, and they do this whole role play where he pretends he just met her at the bar. He's Josh. ah She's Isabelle. It's supposed to be very beautiful and spontaneous. um
00:46:14
Speaker
It's also a moment for them to be who they want to be. Without all of that stuff from their lives just sipping in. They don't have to get up in the morning and go work and you know, all the labor and the stress and uncertainty. Yeah. They drink, they dance, they flirt. So when I'm reading from my notes, they play a little bit. Yeah. And on the dance floor, he proposes to her. Yeah. Uh-huh. And he's also been drinking, ah been drinking quite a bit, which he should not be dueling. Alex, you're an alcoholic. You're an alcoholic. He's supposed to be working the steps, right? And so it's in that moment where he's like a little erratic and, um, I do this, that's what erratic feels like to me. Yeah, right. Like he's a little erratic yeah and he's just like, we can get married tomorrow. And she's like, well, I don't have a passport. He's like, it's fine. Yeah. In that moment where she's like, okay. Is it how, why is it fine? How is it fine? You maybe have my passport. Is that what you think it might be happening right now?
00:47:24
Speaker
And, you know, it seems sweet, but it's not. It's laced with something. And, you know, we kind of, we kind of get into it at the end of the movie. Like I said, this movie is like short. It's like night and night. And there's enough tension in there. And even though Like when she initially like is frightened while while watching the news, he shows kindness, he hugs her. Like in that moment I was like, okay, he's not gonna do what I think he's gonna do. Like he, exactly you know, he, cause usually that reaction is very instantaneous. It's not a slow burn. It's not like I'm gonna plot to take you out of town and murder you, you know? And so then I was like, what is going on here? And so the proposal, I don't know, it just,
00:48:14
Speaker
It took me a while to really understand the ending of this movie because, you know, she realizes what has happened by sitting in the hotel
Olivia Reclaims Independence
00:48:24
Speaker
room. And this is in the morning because he passed out after drinking so much and they wake up. She's like, give me my passport. I know you have it. i know you have me give it to me He realizes that he messed up royally. He's apologizing. He wants to fix it. And you know, again, like I said, without the context of everything that has happened, that would have been
00:48:51
Speaker
such a beautiful, wonderful thing for her, like you said, is a trans woman of color in this world where you are not wanted, you are constantly haunted, and um to have somebody chase you, want to it's it's It's what she's always wanted. But she ultimately cuts to like we see her again from a distance. And this is a tool that I they feel like Sandoval uses quite a bit. um She kind of pulls the camera out for you to see this person from a distance with the voiceover of either her talking to somebody on the phone or um she's
00:49:36
Speaker
listening to the or the news is playing over that and it's kind of to exemplify the loneliness But the the the anxiety and also like what we're talking about, you don't know what someone's going through is they're kind of going through their lives. Absolutely. Pulled back the camera again um because while we had the those moments with Alex, there was a lot of close ups. So it was almost like things are getting more intimate. And now it's like, OK, she's alone again. And I remember like sitting there because i i I watched that scene like a couple of times after the hotel room to when she's sitting at the subway station.
00:50:13
Speaker
and And it's like she's talking about, oh, my friend Trixie might've found somebody else that I could, that could help me with this green card stuff, right? And then we basically come to the end of the movie. And I was just like, hold up, hold up, hold up. yeah yeah Let's go back. What do you mean? Well, I think I'm still trying to figure it out. because and you know In the hotel room, he's begging her, like, please let me make it right. Please let me make it right. I'll marry you and this will make it right. Obviously he didn't take that off.
00:50:45
Speaker
and No. Yeah, I don't think she took the offer. It sounds like Trixie is finding her a new boo um to, what did you say? such fraud Because I mean, about the idea of legal immigration is new. It was not been there for very long, because let's not forget all them Italians and Irish people that showed up for before. There was no visa. There was no actual process. So I hesitate to use the word fraud because I feel like at some point after a certain group of people started immigrating, we suddenly had rules um about who could come into the country. yeah And, you know, it's made it a very lengthy process, a process that takes
00:51:36
Speaker
an expensive process. Expensive process. You know, and I wrote this down because one of the things that Alex had the audacity to say was like, why not just be legal? I'm like, Oh yes yeah. So, you know what? You're right. I haven't tried that. Let me go try that. And then I will, I don't even know why I didn't think about that. Just be legal. yeah yeah Magic. I'm legal now. Like, you know, it's like, da I think the, the ordinary citizens don't understand that it takes years, it takes resources. And, and then also these forms and paperwork are so complicated, even for English speakers. And so then if you're not an English speaker, it's just, it's wild that anybody gets through this process. You know, if you're not rich, if you're not from an English speaker, you not white, like, I mean, Canadians come down here all the time. No one's like,
00:52:30
Speaker
Dude, where's your, you know? And so I think that I hesitate to say, I mean, it's brought in the strictest definition of the word, but when you create a system that is almost impossible for people to do legally, um some people, particularly when they're on a timer and they don't know if they're going to be deported any moment, they will her try these means, these other means. Everyone's saying he's right. okay Absolutely. yeah yeah They're do what they have to do. And so we circle back to labor again. Olivia has to do what she has to do.
00:53:09
Speaker
Um, so she's found a new guy to pay to help her work towards potentially like marriage and a green card. She's got a new job, even she doesn't say where it is or what it is, but she's got a new job and she's going to be sending my home. She's worked overtime to buy them Christmas gifts, right? And send them home. And I mean, I feel like she did have to get a new job because She was literally taking care of Alex's grandmother. And so there was no way, and he's living there. So there's no way to not be in that situation. You know what I mean? So you have to go, you have to move somewhere else. You have to be somewhere else, um, in order not to, yeah, to see him again. Yeah. Yeah.
00:53:57
Speaker
to see him and um and to just move on right and to for it to be unscathed because like you said the him lying was cruel and juvenile and it's also the thing that he's used to doing yeah it's just like lying when he gets in trouble and his immaturity and his friends even that puts him, puts her in a position of instability where she's already terrified all the time. Cause I remember sitting here and I'm like, why wouldn't you accept his proposal? Like who else is going to propose to you? Who else is going to, you know, like go through all of this trouble? And I had to let it sit with me for a bit. And I was like, okay, I'm going to put myself in her shoes for a minute here. And I,
00:54:42
Speaker
And to me, it was like, first of all, you lied, right, um about how my stuff got to you. You didn't acknowledge that you knew who I was this whole time. You carried on this charade of like, oh, I didn't know. And then freaking me the hell out about ice for days. And when I'm crying and sobbing, you hug me like you don't know what's going on. And at any point you could have absolve my fears. You could have taken those away. And I feel like um one, she was like, okay, if you can't even be honest at this level, like I can't, I can't trust, cause she has to be in control of her situation. She has to be in control. It's, you know, and I understand that as somebody who control has always been a place for me of safety, knowing where I am, knowing who's around me allows me to be safe. And so,
00:55:38
Speaker
The fact that we took that control away from her, I think it just shattered that beautiful world that they had created together. yeah He was like, Oh, you're a mess. You're for the streets. Like, you are like, I can't even trust you. You use the one thing that scares the hell out of me to control me. You know, Yeah. and That's another thing. It's like he's a fucking mess, right? It's like, I am tired oh of the world being like, you know, you you just got to take what you can get. He's a mess. Like, why is it that these people who are just trying to do what they need to do to survive
00:56:23
Speaker
are somehow, someway, crossed paths with just purity and ideas. I would rather be in something loveless than be in the situation of just like accepting the bare minimum. But for her, she got something out of it. She felt desire and love for as brief a moment as she she was able to and i think you know when you have that it's really hard for you to want to settle for something that isn't that you know like even though he ruined a beautiful thing she knows that she can get that now and so i mean there's so many and when i was reading like the interview with the with the director she talks about like
00:57:10
Speaker
it Depending on who you are, you can read so much into this ending, into this story, no about like what what her motivation was for saying no and walking away from it. and like you know When you're in such a precarious situation, you think, okay, this is the only option. so i mean She could have easily just said, yes, absolutely, I could do this tomorrow and I could be safe. But it almost felt like she realized that and her she wasn't as safe in the situation. no No, no, I love that. I love what you said about the director. For me, I saw that she chose herself.
00:57:53
Speaker
And that's something that I'm very big on these last few years. I would actually say the years of my 30s have been me just choosing myself and not giving up a sense of self to fulfill an idea. And so she chose herself for all women to know, we are not here to fix these men. We are not. No. My time is expensive and too many of them have wasted it. It's like come correct. No. Already, you know, assembled. I'm not Ikea. I'm not. I'm here with you. You know? But just this was a novel film. Like I said, you guys, it's available on Criterion, 90 minutes of your time.
Reflection on 'Lingua Franca'
00:58:49
Speaker
Follow it up with something happy. I don't know, like, I don't know, maybe turning red or something that's also directed by women, something to just make you feel good. Because, you know, I think it will like I this movie sat in my head and in my heart for a full week. Like I was just like I came back to my writing and I was like,
00:59:08
Speaker
you wo And I could see why um she is such a valuable director right now. Like she is getting work. She's done, she's done like, I think a TV show. awesome But um yeah, she, let me tell you, this woman is a powerhouse, like a tour de force. She wrote this movie. She produced this movie. She directed this movie. She edited this movie. And then she also acted in this movie, I don't know how many people you know. Male, female, non-binary, they keep you, all of that stuff. And I mean, I knew her reason for her. The reason she wanted to have control of the story. She wanted to make sure that she kept, and and you know, like, just having that level of control, it brought something to the film. But I'm just like, girl, you are wowing right now. And not to mention that she was writing this movie as she was transitioning.
01:00:07
Speaker
herself. And then, you know, as she's writing this movie, she's transitioning, and then yeah Trump happens. Like, I could feel every single bit of that in the movie. And it was, it was just, it was wonderful to see. It was complexity. There was nuance in this character. um They were not a flat 2D character. So like, I want to say like, see this movie, especially for Pride Month. See it. yeah it's yeah you It's a beautiful film. It's a beautiful film. Oh, of course you had to ask me that. So we want and end up yeah yeah what are we watching we watching next? I can always ask a question again and Greg can like edit. Ask me again.
01:00:58
Speaker
We are watching. What are we watching? The 70s. Let me tell you how much I love movies from the 70s. It was a crazy time. It was a crazy time. It was a crazy time. It was a time when black smotation was also thriving. And there were just some weird, whatever they were smoking, drinking, sniffing in the 70s. It was great. Anyway, this movie is called Terminal Island. by Stephanie Grossman, and it's from 1973. It's available to stream on 2BTV. It's free. You might have some commercials, but it's free. um like This is basically but it's it's it's basically Lord of the Flies on an island with men and women.
01:01:47
Speaker
It's uh it's it's gonna be right like actiony like we've been doing a lot of drama and stuff but this one is gonna be you know i i love when female directors do action because i know that the thing is like oh all they do is documentary and dramas i'm like nope but they can they can get your heart racing too They can absolutely do action. They can absolutely do action. So I'm really excited to watch this. And yeah, we will see you guys soon with this movie. And again, like I said, follow us on Instagram, Screen the Coins. I'm going to be posting pretty much every day about queer stories in movies, queer directors, including this one. So you'll have plenty of movies to watch in June.
01:02:34
Speaker
and that's that's it from us from me and see awesome have a great have a great month and we'll see you soon all right bye