Why The Oscars Got It Wrong About Emilia Perez (And What You Should Really Be Watching)

Polarizing though somehow industry favorite “Emilia Perez” has received 13 Oscar nominations, setting the record for the most nominations for an international film. Written and directed by Jacques Audiard, the Spanish-language French musical crime film is also associated with Gone with the Wind, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Forrest Gump and Oppenheimer. for the second most Oscar nominations ever. /Films by Jeremy Matej the movie was called “swing and miss” and with a 32% audience score Rotten tomatoeshe's certainly not the only one who thinks the movie was a huge bummer.

Let's say you liked the movie. In that case, I'm not here to tell anyone how to feel about a piece of art. But given the legitimate criticisms that have been leveled against the film for both its transrepresentation and it represents Mexican cultureit's very disappointing to realize how many Academy voters are completely out of touch and are clearly voting for the cover of “Emilia Perez's” performative progress. symbolizesrather than letting the communities represented in the film take the lead and determine whether this is a portrayal worthy of celebration.

“Emilia Perez” won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and garnered a lot of critical acclaim, but most of it was written by cisgender critics. The more trans and queer critics saw the film, the more obvious the problems became. GLAAD even called the film a “deeply retrograde portrayal of a trans woman,” and I agree with that sentiment. But those who like the film continue to hail it as “progress,” noting that Carla-Sophie Gascon's Best Actress nomination is a historic first for transgender actors everywhere (despite her pointing out queer and transgender critics who didn't like her movie was “stupid”). But who gets to define what “progress” looks like: well-meaning cis people who are desperate to prove they're not transphobic by spouting regressive bullshit, or the actual LGBTQIA+ community, who have since spoken out against it. the infamous “penis to vaginaaaaaaa” music video started going viral on social media?

Honestly, I don't want to waste any more words on “Emilia Perez” because none of my complaints in the article will change the nominations. Instead, I'm going to announce a list of incredible trans movies that came out in 2024 that deserve your time.

While “I Saw the TV Glow” wasn't Jane Schonbrunn's debut, they really came through with their sophomore film about two friends named Owen and Maddie, whose obsession with the TV show “The Pink Opaque” opens up a supernatural world that mirrors their own . , shattering Owen's perception of reality and identity. It has been praised as more than one of the best horror movies of the year but one of the best movies of the year, period. If the Academy really wanted to highlight a trans film this year, why not a haunting and poetic examination of the “egg-cracking” experience actually written and directed by a trans person? “I Saw the TV Glow” was such a monumental achievement in transgender cinema that its message of “there's still time” inspired many people to finally accept the truth about themselves. and coming out as transgender. “Emilia Perez” can't be said to have had the same impact.

And while it's doubtful that Alice Mayo McKay's “A Massacre at Christmas” could ever be in the Academy Awards conversation, the Australian transgender filmmaker the fifth feature film (completed before she turned 20) is a micro-budget holiday horror film currently boasting 89% from Rotten Tomatoes. It's about a true-crime podcast and killer transwoman named Lola, who encounters the vengeful ghost of a notorious killer in her hometown on her first holiday visit since escaping and transitioning. Mackay's films have been fan favorites on the streaming app Shudder for years, and she's a promising young talent who keeps getting better and better with each new feature. “Carnage for Christmas” is her best film yet, but that will only be true until she releases her next film.

The record-setting standard for “Emilia Pérez” as an international release has also been praised for the film's “revolutionary” theme. However, not only does a Spanish-language transgender musical already exist (“20 Centimeters” from 2005), but it wasn't the only non-American transgender film released in 2024. Levan Akin's film Crossing was critically panned despite winning the Jury Prize at both the Berlin International Film Festival and the Guadalajara International Film Festival. The story centers on a retired teacher searching for her long-lost niece, who ends up in Istanbul, where she meets Evrim, a lawyer who fights for transgender rights. It currently boasts a 97% from Rotten Tomatoesin which critics praise its portrayal of transness and life in Istanbul.

2024 also marked the feature debut of activist and drag performer Amrou Al-Kadhi with Layla, the story of a struggling British-Palestinian drag performer who hides his vulnerability and desperate desire for love and approval behind their trust. drag a person. Admittedly, it's a bit uneven from a narrative standpoint, but the lead performances from Bilal Hasna as Leila and Louis Greatorex as Max are so captivating that it doesn't matter. “Layla” also isn't afraid to dive into intercommunal conflict, something that most LGBTQIA+ films shy away from for fear of providing ammunition to the absolute worst people on the planet.

The indie circuit is home to the majority of films about marginalized communities or made by creatives from marginalized communities, and in 2024 it was packed with killer projects about transgender people. Vera Drewe's superhero satire “People's Joker” played to sold-out theaters across the country on her corporate comedy (and treating intellectual property rights like sacred cows) tour, audiences filled with clown makeup.

And then there's the transgressive brilliance of Louise Werd's Castration Film Anthology i. Traps, a film that has absolutely zero percent addressing a stuffy cis audience or playing a game of respectability politics, and the result is a raw epic that sprawls across four and a half hours. The story follows transsexual worker Michaela “Trap” Sinclair as she searches for back-alley orchiectomies between meeting clients and hanging out with friends. The film also features Vera Drew and Alice Maio McKay in supporting roles, and we love seeing trans filmmakers helping other trans filmmakers realize their vision.

Ted Hammel's Stress Positions might be the only quarantine-era COVID-19 comedy that isn't embarrassing: a rousing piece of chamber music about people essentially trapped in one place, featuring a character played by John Early who wants nothing to do with others. people but is stuck with them due to safety regulations. Hammel's sense of humor is so sharp and her performance so perfect that when another character asks her, “But you always knew you were a woman?” she can respond with, “No, nobody feels that way. I wanted to kill myself, and it helped, sorta,” and the audience wants to howl-laugh instead of calling someone for a wellness check.

Also painfully noticed was photographer Luke Guilford's feature directorial debut “National Anthem,” the story of a construction worker who joins a community of queer rodeo performers in the American Southwest. Eve Lindley absolutely dazzles as Sky, and the image of her wearing an American flag and shredding Daisy Duke on horseback with her hair blowing in the wind makes it one of the best images of any movie in 2024.

The documentary space has never been short of trans stories, but 2024 was a banner year for them. Most famously, Will & Harper, a travel documentary about Will Ferrell and comedy writer Harper Steele, who travel across the country to keep Harper safe as she revisits dive sites in red states while the couple learns what their relationship might look like if they move . forward. “Will & Harper” is the perfect trans movie for cisgender audiences and a touching look at friendship through one of America's most famous faces.

Reas, a documentary hybrid in which ex-prisoners from Buenos Aires re-enact their lives and stories through vivid musical numbers, was also screened internationally. Some of the ex-cons are trans and some are cis, but they are all showcases of resilience, hope, and the limitless possibilities of imagination, even in the most difficult of circumstances.

But for my money the “trans doc” of the year was Chasing Chasing Amy by Seve Rogers; part journey of self-discovery, part film history lesson, and part exploration of how movies can profoundly change us. Kevin Smith's 1990s novel Chasing Amy was initially hailed as groundbreaking for its frank portrayal of queerness, but has since been criticized as “badly dated” and even *gasp*. problematic but that didn't stop it from becoming one of the most influential films of Rodgers' childhood. Savs is also the founder and executive director of the Transgender Film Center, and Chasing Chasing Amy is his feature film debut.

All of this is to say that Oscar nominations are cool, but they don't necessarily reflect quality or importance. Please don't let these other incredible trans films get lost in time in favor of a film that has been overwhelmingly rejected by the communities they represent.