Femme

            Spellbinding, superbly acted, tale of queer revenge, expertly directed by Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping.

            Jules (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) is a black performance artist in a London gay club. His drag attire gets him savagely beat up by a gang of homophobic ruffians outside the club. Suffering severe PTSD over the incident, he becomes a recluse in the flat he shares with two friends, playing endless video games and fearful of the street. But, finally fed up with feeling depressed he heads out to a gay bathhouse and spies, of all people, the leader of the gang who beat him up who actually cruises him. They hook up outside and drive off for rough sex and Jules discovers his name is Preston (George MacKay) and he begins to devise a way to get even by possibly filming them having sex with his phone and posting it online.

            But as they continue to sexually hook up and spend time together, Jules sees a different side of Preston besides his scary quick temper and closeted panic at being outed. The revenge-porn plot gets shakier.

            The film is all about the masks we all wear to survive. For Jules, when he becomes Aphrodite at the club he becomes all-powerful. “She was the real me and I was the performer.” For Preston, carousing with his thuggish friends and acting like a big-spender, tattooed tough guy is his disguise. As the film evolves, Jules brings out another, more tender side to him which complicates everything. The two actors really bring such conviction and complexity to the roles. George MacKay is astonishing as the wildly conflicted, rage-filled, clenched fist of a guy. And Nathan Stewart-Jarrett really makes you feel the pain of trying to regain his sense of well-being and identity after such a brutal attack, not to mention the confusion as his feelings towards Preston deepen. 

            There is always an underlying tension underscoring everything in the film that eventually erupts during a volatile, emotionally devastating finale.

(Opens Friday, March, 22 at IFC Center)