Three trailers have come through my inbox recently, and they have piqued my interest enough that I thought you might like to see ’em, too.
HIT & MISS, from Paul Abbott, creator of Shameless and State of Play, is a high concept and ambitious new series that follows Chloë Sevingy as Mia, a contract killer with a secret: she’s a transgender woman. Mia’s life is sent into a tailspin when she receives a letter from an ex-girlfriend dying from cancer revealing that Mia fathered a son eleven years ago. Faced with a difficult decision, Mia becomes the guardian to a new family forcing her to mix her killer instincts with her newly developing maternal instincts. HIT & MISS tells the story of a lethal killer at the heart of a troubled family and how all of their lives will be dramatically changed forever.
I’m pretty skeptical, but I love Chloe Sevingy and I’m kind of a sucker for contract killer shows (Alias!), and I am curious about this. Will they pull it off? How awful will it be? And ethically is it a good idea to cast a cis woman as a trans woman? I don’t know. But I’m glad something like this exists, because it’s encouraging these questions if nothing else. We’ll see how long it lasts.
Gen X filmmaker Phoebe Hart always knew she was different growing up—but she didn’t know why. This award-winning documentary traces Phoebe’s voyage of self-discovery as an intersex person, a group of conditions formerly termed hermaphroditism. Learning only in her teens that she was born with 46XY (male) chromosomes, Hart now seeks to understand her own story and the stories of others affected by this complex and often shameful syndrome. Learn more about ORCHIDS here.
It premieres tonight on Showtime! Looks like a pretty intense undertaking, from the trailer, and I’m curious what it’ll add to the intersex discourse.
Ten year old Laure isn’t like most girls. She prefers football to dolls and sweaters to dresses. When Laure, her parents and little sister Jeanne move to a new neighbourhood, family life remains much the same. That is, until local girl Lisa mistakes Laure to be a boy. Indulging in this exciting new identity, Laure becomes Michael, and so begins a summer of long sunny afternoons, playground games and first kisses. Yet with the school term fast approaching, and with suspicions arising amongst friends and family, Laure must face up to an uncertain future.
This was released last fall, but was just released by Wolfe video on DVD and I’m excited to see it.
Hit and Miss has been difficult for me because it represents just another transwoman as psycho killer role that we see so often on TV. That said, it’s had pretty good reviews in the UK, some from transwomen, so it might be worth a look. Sadly, it’s too far into the season for me to pick it up. Tomboy, on the other hand, it mesmerising, beautiful and claustrophobic. A truly wonderful film that actually makes you forget to breathe. I’m sure you’ll love it.