Mutt: Reality Outside the Closet
Mutt, directed by Vuk Lungulov-Klotz, stars Lio Mehiel as Feña, a transgender man who undergoes a distressing day in which he struggles with the intermingling of his past and his present, as he sets out to pick up his father from the airport. It’s a 90-minute film that explores the complexities of gender, race, and young adulthood. Throughout the film, we see how those things interact with each other. This story is heavily character-driven, and light on the plot, but it does provide an interesting, if not a little depressing, insight into the life of a transperson.
The
strongest point of this film is its very human depiction. All too often queer
characters are stuck in two extremes of a rigid moral binary. Historically,
queer characters have been depicted as villains, or at least villains were
queer-coded, or even inspired by queer people - such as the case of Ursula from
A Little Mermaid. On the other side of that, perhaps in an effort to
overcorrect said villainization, queer people can be depicted as very
ultraistic, morally good, and maybe even perfect. Unfortunately, either
scenario results in a flat character that isn’t given the same amount of nuance
as their straight and cis-gendered counterparts. With Mutt, Feña
is a very imperfect character. He is messy, complicated, and capable of being
kind of a dick, to be frank. For example, Feña sleeps with his ex, John, while
he’s in some kind of situation-ship with a guy named Ken. Ken has given
Feña a key to his apartment, was more than willing to lend Feña his car, and
lovingly referred to Feña as a baby. With these context clues, it can be
inferred that while Feña doesn’t see Ken as his boyfriend (per his own words),
Ken has other ideas. There’s a suggestion there that Feña is leading Ken on,
which is really kind of a dick move.
He’s
not the image of perfection or a being of moral righteousness. He is depicted
as a human being that screws up, has bad days, and says the wrong, awkward
thing. Humanity is rarely awarded transparent people, it's something that
they often have to fight for while simultaneously fighting off people and laws
that aim to strip them of their rights. There are people, whether it’s from
ignorance or straight-up bigotry, who can’t, or refuse to, see that transgender
individuals are just as human as the rest of us. Films that depict trans people
in a very real and human light lead the way for certain dinosaurs
to get caught up with the times, but also to provide relatability to
everyone.
This
film also deals with the reality of being a transgendered person, and how other
people’s perceptions of Feña impact him. Everyone Feña interacts with has a
different perception of him. His sister has a fairly
positive reaction to seeing Feña post-transition, it almost leans on the side
of nonchalance. John respects Feña’s identity and is curious about it, but is very much
still attached to the Feña he once knew. Feña’s father loves his child, but he
doesn’t understand that it wasn’t Feña’s choice to be trans – that’s just who
he is. There’s also a really interesting juxtaposition between two minor characters: a bank
teller and a pharmacist. At the bank, Feña explains to the bank teller that he
is trans, and despite this, the bank teller refers to Feña as “ma’am”
(30:40 – 31: 20). This scene is contrasted a few minutes later when a
pharmacist refers to Feña as “sir” and “young man” (33:50-34:15). This
specifically plays on the notion of the societies view on gender. Leslie
Feinberg writes, “Today all gender education teaches that women are “feminine,”
men are “masculine,” and an unfordable river rage between these banks”
(Feinberg 207). While the bank teller didn’t respect or affirm Feña’s gender,
and the pharmacist did, both of them admired the strict gender binary of “male” and
“female”. I think this is a showcasing of how people still refuse or are
ignorant of the true nuance of gender.
In
terms of the issues of this film, my main issue is how it juggles different aspects of the story.
It is an attempt to display a character having a very overwhelming day,
and to peek into all major parts of the life
of said character, it feels like there
is too much going on. Because of that, there are unanswered questions, that
would have better served the story had they been expanded upon. For instance,
we never got a look at why Feña and John’s breakup was so explosive. It
seems like Feña’s gender – or more specifically Feña’s struggle and acceptance
of his gender – played a part in it. However, it is unclear whether they broke
up because of Feña’s transition or if it was behaviors or actions that resulted
in the split between the two. There is beauty in ambiguity, but in this case, I
feel like it hindered the story a bit.
On
top of that, Feña is dealing with his strained relationship with his father,
re-building his bond with his sister, his friendships, trying to re-kindle a
doomed romance with John while also being a maybe/maybe not relationship with
an unseen Ken, and living with the trauma of his relationship with his
transphobic mother all while he deals with the reality of being a trans person
in a world that has yet to fully accept him. It’s a lot to squeeze in in only
90 minutes. I can respect the attempt to depict the chaos of life, but I ended
up feeling unsatisfied when the credits rolled.
Overall,
this was a good film. It’s not a movie made for entertainment, so I’ll probably
never sit down to watch this for anything other than analytical purposes.
However, it does a lot of good things, including being a good form of
representation considering it features a BIPOC transman being played by a BIPOC
transman in a movie that is directed by a BIPOC transman. These are voices that
can easily get lost in the noise of an overwhelming white and cis-het
Hollywood, and it's incredibly important that this film got made, and that people are able to
watch it. It depicts complex characters and nuanced relationships. I do
wish that certain relationships would have gotten more of an in-depth dive, but
this film did a good job of depicting that people’s feelings are never cut and
dry. This film may air on the side of too woeful for my tastes, but it gives
its trans character a deeply complex life and story that is all too often
awarded only to cis people. It offers a window into what it's like to be an out
transgender individual in a world where everyone has their own idea and
conceptions of gender and sexuality.
Works Cited
Mutt. Directed by Vuk Lungulov-Klotz, Strange Animal
Entertainment, 2023.
Feinberg, Leslie. “Transgender Liberation.” The Transgender
Studies Reader, edited by Susan Stryker and Stephen Whittle, Routledge, 2006,
pp. 205-220.
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I agree that the film's strongest point is its very human depiction. Even though there were some awkward dialogue points, the film does a good job of portraying its characters as real people. All the characters are multifaceted and complex, making the interpersonal drama all that more interesting. Great post!
ReplyDeleteHello! I enjoyed reading your perspective and opinions on this movie. You do a great job not only summarizing the movie but discussing aspects like the moral binary of Feña. There is a lot that happens and I agree with your take that some movies, especially in the past, liked to put anyone in a queer role as a villain of some sort. However, with the realistic aspect of the movie, this can be the same in real life. Some will view you as the villain while others will not. I agree that this movie is not for entertainment but does a great job of giving a diverse look to what living as a trans-man looks like, more specifically as a Latino trans-man. Great job!
ReplyDeleteI think it is interesting that queer characters are typically placed on a spectrum of evil (like Disney villains) or morally righteous. As you say, I think Feña falls somewhere in the middle with moments of being very caring and others of being defensive. It is nice seeing a more realistic, less dramatized representation of a trans person.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with the movie being hindered by a lack of concrete context. We know Ken has some sort of sugar daddy-like relationship with Feña, but it really is not described. If the only reason for Ken is to borrow money or a car, why not give that to a more major character? I also think that the film could explain the tension of Feña and John's relationship. Is he the asshole? Does John have internal transphobia or homophobia? It seems like an after thought to include all sorts of character perspectives in the movie, while leaving loose ends. I know you mention these ideas, and I am in full agreement. It just seems like the lead up of a joke with no punch line.
I loved your mention of how gender and young adulthood grapple in this film, since Feña is not only learning to become an adult, but also having to learn to be a man and be himself. The movie definitely has lots of information, but lacks the relevant context in which to present that information. What happened between Feña and John? Why was John still interested in Feña, a man, after his transition? Who is Ken and what was his relationship with Feña? I would love for all of these questions to be answered, but the image portrayed in the movie of Feña shows the hardships that trans people face daily. Great post!
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