Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-12-13
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  WINDY CITY TIMES

Knight at the Movies: Becoming Chaz; film notes
2011-05-04

This article shared 4281 times since Wed May 4, 2011
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email


Queer cable show and film producer/directors Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato (known through their moniker World of Wonder Productions and their biggest TV hit, RuPaul's Drag Race) are the duo behind the documentary Becoming Chaz. The movie follows the year in which the former Chastity Bono, the offspring of Sonny & Cher, makes the transition from female to male—finding renewal as Chaz Salvatore (in honor of his late father) Bono on the other side.

Oprah Winfrey's OWN network grabbed the movie, which debuted at Sundance to good advance word; it will premiere May 10, kicking off a new documentary series. It's easy to see why Winfrey's nascent network would purchase the broadcast rights to such a remarkable journey. A movie that follows the gender reassignment of the child of celebrity icons in a respectful, rather than salacious, manner seems made to order for OWN. Indeed, as we follow Chaz throughout the final steps to becoming male (including hormone treatments, surgery to remove breasts, legal reclassification, etc.) it's evident that there's much in Becoming Chaz that both the informed and the uninitiated with the topic of gender transition will find compelling.

I have been a big champion of Bailey and Barbato's feature offbeat documentaries—especially, Inside Deep Throat and The Eyes of Tammy Faye—but beyond the subject matter of making a transition, the duo is, for once, stymied by their central figure. Chaz is no Tammy Faye or any of the colorful characters that normally populate a Bailey/Barbato presentation. Once past the fanciful vintage clips and the "I always knew I was born in the wrong body" refrain—painful yet familiar—the duo's film subject turns out to be such a typical guy's guy (obsessed with video-gaming and his pets) that the filmmakers end up looking to Chaz's girlfriend, relatives and doctors for some dramatic juice.

Cher herself is seen in the archival footage, news clippings and in a lone solo interview, discussing her fears and emotional difficulty with "da" (the family's nickname for Chastity/Chaz). However, though we see Chaz with Sonny's widow and stepsiblings, Cher, whose mega-celebrity hangs over the proceedings from beginning to end, isn't seen in contact with her new son until a brief, forced meet-up between the two (obviously staged for the cameras) at the film's conclusion (during the Burlesque red carpet premiere). Moreover, tantalizing questions—why Chaz's lesbian couple friends (his sobriety sponsors) had to lend him the money for surgery, for example—aren't addressed.

What we do get a lot of—and I mean a lot of—is Chaz's girlfriend, Jennifer, who wears out her welcome long before she and Chaz start to have problems because his testosterone shots find him acting more aggressively and with less "softness." By default, she becomes the go-to girl for the filmmakers and the movie feels padded because she's always there cajoling, kvetching, explaining hers and Chaz's feelings. Best are the instances where the filmmakers stick close to their shy central subject, capturing some of the most genuinely moving moments in the process—when Chaz's driver's license, with his new gender classification, arrives in the mail; when Chaz alone attends an Atlanta conference with other transgender people; or watches his mother on TV explaining her feelings about his sex change on The David Letterman Show. (Talk about surreal.)

A segment late in the movie where Bailey and Barbato follow Chaz on what can only be described as a play date with a pint-sized transgender male child as well as his involvement with an organization of parents supportive of their children living as opposite genders (started by the child's mother) is particularly illuminating and poignant. Scenes like these speak volumes about the courageous journey that the shy, taciturn man—a true trailblazer—has gone through on his way to combining body and soul.

Film notes:

—For the fourth year in a row my alter ego, Dick O'Day, will be hosting (with able assistance from David Cerda and the Handbag Players) Mother's Day with Mommie Dearest this Sunday, May 8, at the historic Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the 1981 camp classic that stars Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford, portraying Crawford as both the world's most maniacal movie star and mother. Mara Hobel and Diana Scarwid play the beleaguered, adopted daughter Christina, who penned the bestseller that started all the fuss upon Crawford's death. I can honestly report that there's nothing quite so satisfying to a gay moviegoer as hearing a packed house scream out in unison, "I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at the dirt!" and hearing some of the hilarious ad-libbing offered at each year's screening.

"Joan and Christina" will take photos with eager fans beginning at 1 p.m. in the lobby (with proceeds to benefit Vital Bridges) and the pre-show (costume contest, prizes, a video by The Joans, Mommie Dearest Sing-A-Long, etc.) starts at 1:30 p.m. with the interactive screening to follow. Tickets are $12/general admission or $28.50 for a pre-screening brunch at Blue Bayou (across the street from the Music Box) and preferred section seating in the theatre. There's all that plus 300 "souvenir" wire hangers to the first 300 patrons! See www.musicboxtheatre.com .

—You may have heard that a certain former leading box-office powerhouse whose personal life has spun out of control—filled with drunken arrests salted with racial and homophobic epithets for starters—is starring in an offbeat indie in which he gives a performance that his female co-star and director (not to mention the producers of the movie) hope will convince audiences to overlook his personal prejudices and focus on his work in the movie. You may have also read interviews with his equally high-profile co-star and director—winner of two Best Actress Oscars—in which she tacitly defends her star's behavior, insisting instead that she wants you to give both the actor and her movie the benefit of the doubt.

However, although this actress-director is giving plenty of interviews to mainstream press to try and make her case (especially to writers willing to tiptoe around said actor's abhorrent behavior) as we go to press she's once again snubbing the LGBT media (though, to our surprise, she initially did schedule an interview with WCT, only later to cancel it for "scheduling reasons"). Apparently, it's one thing to implicitly defend her star's off-screen behavior by sidestepping questions about it with complicit journalists but it's quite another to chance addressing her own status as a closeted lesbian—an open secret she herself somewhat acknowledged when receiving an award several years back. Taking all that into consideration, why then would Windy City Times and its resident queer film critic review this film, do anything that would imply our support of said movie or encourage our LGBT readership (and those sensitive to LGBT issues) to do anything but the same?

Check out my archived reviews at www.windycitymediagroup.com or www.knightatthemovies.com . Readers can leave feedback at the latter website.


This article shared 4281 times since Wed May 4, 2011
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email

Out and Aging
Presented By

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

JP Karliak morphs into non-binary character for Disney+'s X-Men '97 2024-03-22
- series X-Men '97, a revival of the popular X-men: The Animated Series that's both continuing the ongoing mutant storyline and breaking new ground along the way. The character of Morph now looks more like the comic ...


Gay News

WORLD Uganda items, HIV report, Mandela, Liechtenstein, foreign minister weds 2024-03-21
- It turned out that U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Senior LGBTQI+ Coordinator Jay Gilliam traveled to Uganda on Feb. 19-27, per The Washington Blade. He visited the capital of Kampala and the nearby city of ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Queer musicians, Marvel situation, Elliot Page, Nicole Kidman 2024-03-21
- Queer musician Joy Oladokun released the single "I Wished on the Moon," from Jack Antonoff's official soundtrack for the new Apple TV+ series The New Look, per a press release. The soundtrack, ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Lady Gaga, 'P-Valley,' Wendy Williams, Luke Evans, 'Queer Eye,' 'Transition' 2024-03-15
- Lady Gaga came to the defense of Dylan Mulvaney after a post with the trans influencer/activist for International Women's Day received hateful responses, People Magazine noted. On Instagram, Gaga stated, "It's appalling to me that a ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Jinkx Monsoon, Xavier Dolan, 'Frida,' Lena Waithe, out singer 2024-03-08
- Two-time RuPaul's Drag Race winner Jinkx Monsoon is headed back to the New York stage, joining off-Broadway's Little Shop of Horrors as Audrey beginning April 2, according to Playbill. The casting makes Monsoon the first drag ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Queer actors, icons duet, Hunter Schafer, Oscars, Elizabeth Taylor 2024-03-01
- Queer actor Kal Penn is set to star in Trust Me, I'm a Doctor—a film that chronicles the final days of actress/model Anna Nicole Smith, whose overdose death in 2007 at age 39 sparked a tabloid ...


Gay News

Dorian Film Awards: 'All of Us Strangers' takes top prizes 2024-02-27
- February 26, 2024 - Los Angeles, Ca. - For its 15th Dorian Film Awards, GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics fully embraced All of Us Strangers, writer-director Andrew Haigh's fantastical and tear-inducing tale of two ...


Gay News

SAG Awards honor Streisand, few LGBTQ+ actors 2024-02-25
- Queer entertainers made their mark—although not a major one—at the 2024 Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards, held Feb. 24 in Los Angeles. The event was live-streamed on Netflix for the first time. Indigenous and Two-Spirit actor ...


Gay News

WORLD Caribbean ruling, Pussy Riot, Russian raid, Canadian warning, anti-trans bar 2024-02-23
- The top court in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines dismissed a challenge to colonial-era anti-gay laws, Reuters reported. Javin Johnson and Sean Macleish—two gay men who had pushed to decriminalize ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Kristen Stewart, Rock Hudson, Talia Keys, 'True Detective,' Marvel comic 2024-02-23
- At the Berlin Film Festival, Kristen Stewart defended her photo shoot for a Rolling Stone magazine cover that went viral and divided audiences on social-media platforms, per The Hollywood Reporter. "The existence of a female body ...


Gay News

Second Glance Productions hosts LGBTQupid Soiree 2024-02-16
- In celebration of Valentine's Day, Chicago based film and media production company Second Glance hosted The LBGTQupid Soiree. The event, which was focused on spinning attitudes on this particular day, was presented at The iO ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Elton John, Hannah Gadsby, video game, Jennifer Lopez, queer thriller 2024-02-16
Video below - Sir Elton John has sold his Atlanta home and is now auctioning off more than 900 of his personal items that were kept in the 13,500-square-foot condo, The Daily Mail noted. The massive collection includes rare ...


Gay News

GALECA announces nominees for the Dorian Film Awards 2024-02-07
--From a press release - Feb. 5, 2024 - GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, consisting of over 500 entertainment critics, journalists and media icons, today announced the group's democratically chosen nominees for its 15th Dorian Film Awards. All of ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ JoJo Siwa, Tom Holland, Bowen Yang, Pet Shop Boys, Mariah Carey 2024-02-02
- In the wake of Nigel Lythgoe exiting So You Think You Can Dance, queer personality JoJo Siwa is returning to the series, per Deadline. Siwa, who was a judge on season 17 of the Fox show, will replace Lythgoe, who left ...


Gay News

Leather Archives & Museum announces 2024 Fetish Film Forum 2024-01-27
--From a press release - CHICAGO, Illinois—After a wildly successful inaugural year, including a 10-film series at the Leather Archives & Museum and a 5-film series at FACETS, the Leather Archives & Museum is thrilled to announce the continuation of Fetish ...


 


Copyright © 2024 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.

All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS






Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.