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talk back

Talk Back #1- Prodigal Sons

On April 3rd, Arts Engine re-launched DocuClub by presenting a rough cut of Kimberly Reed’s autobiographical portrait of sibling rivalry, Prodigal Sons. The screening took place in front of a full house inside the theater of Goldcrest Post, in New York City’s meatpacking district. After brief introductory words by Arts Engine executive director Katy Chevigny and DocuClub founder Susan Kaplan, we sat enthralled by the family drama unfolding before our eyes. The film depicts the filmmaker’s return to her hometown in Montana for her high school reunion. As if such an event weren’t a source of stress for most of us already, her distress is compounded by her first visit home as a transgender woman. The “heart” of the film is Kim’s contentious relationship with her older brother Marc, who had been adopted by her family, and who—in one of the many “wow” moments in the film—turns out to be Orson Wells and Rita Hayworth’s grandson. 

Once the film ended and the lights came back on, producer John Keitel took the stage to field the audience’s comments. (Reed had requested that she stay in the background during the commentary, so that audience members felt more comfortable addressing the issues regarding her portrayal of herself.) 

Katy started the conversation by noting how the Super 8 home movie footage of Kim in high school (as football quarterback Paul) spoke loudly about fixed gender roles. Kim’s voiceover reflection on how her eager adoption of masculine trappings such as football might have been an effort to overcompensate for her gender identity.

I was impressed by the dedication and generosity of the DocuClub audience. The quality of the feedback was stellar. Some of the commentary pertained to clarifying more the introduction of the characters, especially the first reveal (Kim is transgender). But the aspect of the film that got the most reaction was Marc’s expressions of anger at Kim, from his yelling to beating her on camera, and culminating in his arrest at the family’s Christmas reunion and subsequent commitment to a treatment facility. 

We ended the session with much more to say, and so I’d like to open up the discussion some more. Please post your thoughts on last night’s rough cut, but keep in mind that this is a forum built on respect and support for the filmmaker. Leave your comments here for Kim and fellow DocuClub fans.

| | Posted on March 11, 2008

Comments

Nice work, Felix. DocuClub is off and running!

I found Prodigal Sons to be very powerful. Kim is courageous for making this film.

One suggestion I might make is to give the audience more support in the face of the violence we see. There are good references to how poorly people with mental illnesses are treated in our society (e.g. the priest points out that communities without resources often send the mentally ill to jail without treatment), but I would have liked to hear from a few experts who might help us to better understand both Marc’s outbursts and the system we have for helping (or not helping) him. We do see that his mother takes a mental illness course, but we don’t hear much about what she learned or if it helped her. Perhaps his psychiatrist/psychologist at the treatment center could be interviewed. Perhaps someone who specializes in head trauma victims… I’m not sure, but I did feel frighten and at sea during those scenes. I imagine I wasn’t the only one.

For me, violence in this concentrated form almost overshadows what is one of the beautiful themes of the film - to attempt to heal a family. It’s clear that a community is needed to do this, so perhaps widening the circle of helpers makes sense.

Posted on April 4, 2008 by enrico

Sorry man, the link you posted to http://www.artsengine.net doesn’t work for me… Maybe it’s just a problem of my corporate proxy but anyways maybe there is an alternative one? Thanks in advance

Posted on November 16, 2009 by lizbettie