Boy Meets Girl

Ricky lives in a small town in Kentucky and works in a café. She is a trans woman and there is nobody else in the town. Her closest friend is Robby; they have been together since childhood and both have stayed here. Ricky wants to study fashion design and has filmed an application for New York but does not send it. Francesca comes into the café; she is from a wealthy family and her fiancé is away on service. The two grow close. The town starts talking. When the fiancé comes back it gets more tangled. Robby, meanwhile, is about to say something he has not said for years. Eric Schaeffer writes and directs. Michelle Hendley plays Ricky, Michael Welch plays Robby and Alexandra Turshen plays Francesca. It is an American production. Michelle Hendley is a trans actor and this is her first film; she was found through videos online while the part was being cast. The film was made on a low budget and shot in Kentucky. The matter it treats is being visible in a small town; the film does not make discrimination its main conflict and shows daily life instead. The narrative uses the shape of romantic comedy and follows the rules of the kind. The film does not tell a trans character through tragedy, which was an unusual choice for its moment. The narrative also carries the line of the childhood friendship and that is its best side. Its limit is the production; the script is explanatory in places, the secondary characters thin, and the pace flat. Who it is for: viewers who like independent romantic comedy and narratives of identity. Who it is not for: it is small in scale, conventional, and the ending easy.