"National Anthem" review by K G Kline
Come out, come out, wherever you are.
"National Anthem '' may well be the world's first Coming-Of-Gender film - a new genre of film that you heard coined here first. But is this film, despite its shortcomings, likely to become one of the year's most important movies? LGBTQ+ movies are not new, but the way that "National Anthem" approaches its subject, with a mostly transgender cast, makes it feel fresh, and perhaps a bit shocking.
"National Anthem" has all the makings of a labor of love for its first-time director, Luke Gilford, who also co-wrote the script. The film evolved out of Gilford's earlier film monograph "National Anthem America's Queer Rodeo". Gilford, who got his start making short documentary films on everything from the Miss America Pageant to Pamela Anderson is the son of a former rodeo champion and judge.
The film centers around Dylan, a shy twenty-something trailer park loner who is left caring for his 9-year-old brother while his mother tries to sleep her way back to her adolescence. Dylan is played with maturity by Charlie Plummer, last seen as J Paul Getty's kidnapped grandson in Ridley Scott's drama "All the Money in the World". Plummer clearly understands his character and allows him to grow in an understated, if somewhat predictable way, while taking us into a world of gay rodeos that few audience members knew existed. The film is entirely Dylan's story, and it's to Gilford's credit that he doesn't require his lead to transform so much as to emerge. Dylan is an unhappy caterpillar who knew nothing about butterflies.
Dylan's journey begins when he's picked up with a group of day laborers outside a Walmart by Pepe (Renee Rosado) to dig fence posts on Pepe's ranch. Dylan rides in the bed of Pepe's pickup to a remote ranch filled with transgender women and openly gay men. To his credit, Plummer doesn't deliver a shocked reaction. He's quietly intrigued. Among the trans women is Sky (Eve Lindly) a stunning and statuesque young woman who is also Pepe's partner. Sky quickly senses there's more to Dylan than a shovel and a cowboy hat and begins flirting with him. One gets the impression Dylan would be flirting back if he knew how. Plummer plays Dylan not as a closeted gay so much as a clueless gay. It isn't long before Sky as well as the openly and exuberantly gay members of the commune begin taking Dylan under their care - an act more lifesaving than supportive.
Like many ground-breaking films, "National Anthem" has less story than it has provocative moments. In one scene Dylan's 9-year-old brother Cassidy (played with genuine joy by Joey DeLeon) picks out a dress to wear to his brother's first drag performance. That's going to stir some controversy, and is best left for another time. Despite these moments, the script is conventional, even a bit weak, and its conclusion too predictable. Its strongpoint is that along the way it throws down the gauntlet on so many film conventions it left me wonder why it's taken so long for a simple indie film like "Nation Anthem" to finally address them. The biggest of these is the need for gay actors to play gay characters and trans actors to play trans characters.
Hollywood has an uncomfortable history of casting actors of the wrong race to play leading roles. Until the 1940's it was not uncommon for white actors to play black characters using infamous "black face.". Hollywood eventually realized this was racist, but similar problems persisted for decades. If you're wondering why no one shows "Breakfast at Tiffany's" anymore it's because of Mickey Rooney's shameful depiction of a buffoonish Japanese neighbor. Since Rooney's debacle in 1961 Hollywood has largely come to terms with casting for race and ethnicity, but problems persist in two areas - transgender and gay roles. John Barrowman, an openly gay actor, describes how he lost the role of Will in TV's "Will & Grace" to Eric McCormack (a straight actor) because the produces thought he wasn't acting gay enough. There's an urgency to "National Anthem" that can't be ignored. Luke Garland's decision to cast only transgender and gay actors is a slap in the face to a Hollywood that still thinks Hilary Swank was a good choice to play a transgender man in "Boy's Don't Cry" while it simultaneously turns its back on the male actor formerly known as Ellen Page.
I'd like to think that the integrity and bravado of "National Anthem" makes it destined for an Academy Award nomination, but sadly it falls short too often. Eve Lindley's performance as Sky comes across as shallow, and her relationship with Pepe undefined. Miss Lindley is one of a very few transgender women working in motion pictures, and in these prehistoric days of transgender representation, I fear the casting choices are still too limited. Only time will tell if "National Anthem" has an impact on transgender and gay casting. What it lacks in storytelling it may eventually make up for by bringing about important changes to the industry as a whole.