Fanfik (Fanfic)

Trailer.

Available Summary:

"Two high school students form an intense connection as they navigate the challenges of discovering and expressing their truest selves." -Netflix.

Jack's Review:

When I found out that the protagonist of this film (Tosiek) is played by a model, I wasn’t surprised. I’ve got nothing against Alin Szewczyk, who themself is non-binary, but too much of this movie is a cross between a film clip and a modelling reel. It has almost no substance beyond looking pretty, and it's all over the place.

One scene is simply the thin, androgynous protagonist scrolling through Instagram and looking at thin, androgynous models while his thin peers take selfies at their lockers. It's very boring very quickly. There is no body diversity or alternative expressions of androgyny. Too many scenes look like they were filmed on a runway, or as part of a fashion line promotion. It’s hard to believe that the characters are average school kids when they’re so professionally styled.

A bigger issue is the fact that Tosiek is utterly unlikeable, and much of the story involves him reaping what he sows, though he ultimately is spared any real consequence. Not all trans characters have to be likeable, but with Tosiek being thoroughly dissatisfying and the writing equally so, it's hard to find a reason to watch Fanfic at all. The film opens with him vomiting in a school toilet (a particularly gross scene), after which viewers find out that he has been stealing and irregularly taking antidepressants, yet he somehow doesn't connect his symptoms with the fact that he has been abusing someone else's prescription medication and exceeding dosage limits. His nausea and mood swings must be everyone else's fault, not his own. Drug use can be depicted sensitively and with nuance, encouraging viewers to sympathise with people who abuse prescription medications, but Fanfic is not capable of that.

He is cruel and dismissive towards a classmate who is openly supportive of both his gender identity and his fanfiction, causing her to abandon and bully him. He wilfully mistakes occasional flirting for consent, and abruptly kisses (assaults) a cis boy without asking first. He steals a classmate's bike, causing the classmate's abusive father to become angry. Determined to demonise a cis gay boy, he physically assaults him and hurts him a great deal... particularly when you consider that the attack was entirely unprovoked. Not that Tosiek has the maturity to process that before getting violent.

In all things, he is forgiven. His conflicts are magically resolved without the need for humility or apologies, certainly from his end. He never fully realises the role he has played in his own misery or (equally importantly) other people's distress. At least in Romeos (2011), which also features a very flawed trans man, all of the main characters are equally flawed and are held to the same standard. What really annoys me about Fanfic (2023) is the hypocrisy.

I liked five things about this film. One, the casting of a trans actor, despite the overall quality of the movie. Two, the dad's involvement, particularly a scene where he shows Tosiek footage from his childhood and finally becomes supportive. Three, a scene where Tosiek affirms himself through open chest binding, which is a huge step forward from bandage binding in films. Four, a scene where Tosiek and a classmate lay together, comprising the only convincing manifestation of the film's promised "intense connection" between them. Five, Tosiek's gender euphoria when putting on a boy's clothes, which is similar to what happened to me. Therein ends my positive experience with this movie.

I'm not even sure why this film is called Fanfic. The film is at its best when it is trying (not always successfully) to flesh out Tosiek beyond the limits of his fanfiction imaginings. I get it, Tosiek affirms himself through fantasies, where he can be as androgynous and masculine as he wishes... But most of the movie isn't about fanfiction. It certainly doesn't warrant occupying the film's title.

The scene which sums up this movie's issues features Tosiek eating a bowl of noodles while a boy cuts his hair. Oh-so-aesthetically pleasing, I guess, but he was definitely munching on noodles with a side of hair clippings. Yum. This film is more concerned with looking pretty than being real, which might be tolerable if it was also well-written. Unfortunately, it is not.

This is ultimately just one trans bloke's review, and I'm sure many people enjoy this movie, so take my opinions with as big a grain of salt as you wish. All in all, I'm glad this film was made. I'm glad any time a trans actor gets to play a trans role, even if I don't like the movie itself... for example, Relish (2019)... which is definitely inferior to Fanfic, given the bandage binding in Relish.