Salmonberries

Watch... But I Wouldn't Recommend It!

Available Summary:

A small-town Alaskan woman researching her roots becomes close with the librarian, an immigrant who lost her husband while fleeing East Germany.

-Tubi.

Jack's Summary:

This film was highly recommended by multiple people, so I was surprised by how utterly creepy it ended up being, and how much I hated it.

Kotzebue, whose gender identity is never labeled, presents as a man among her fellow miners and in her town. She describes herself as being an Eskimo (read about that term here). When the film begins, she is chiefly motivated by a desire to discover her parentage after growing up as an orphan, and unfortunately, she encounters a German woman named Roswitha while on this quest. I say "unfortunately" because Kotz treats Witha horribly.

I was told that this is a trans male movie, but I personally disagree. To me, this seems like a butch lesbian movie, albeit one which (in my opinion) is butchphobic and portrays butch masculinity as being inherently predatory and dangerous. Of course, you may interpret Kotz as a trans man, a non-binary person, or whatever else. It's up to you.

One of the first things that Kotz does, after Witha refers to her as "boy" and "young man," is undress and expose her nude body in a public place which children frequent. It's such a weird and inappropriate way to come out to someone you hardly even know.

Her inappropriate behaviour is not limited to that one instance.

When Kotz is annoyed, she throws books around in Witha's library. When she wants to make a point which could be communicated in one quick sentence, she instead cuts down and vandalises a public signpost. She stands in Witha's doorway, blocking Witha from entering her own home. She enters Witha's house without permission, causing her to tie up her robe in a frightened manner; Kotz then looks through her personal belongings (again, without permission) while she is getting dressed. When Witha refuses her offer of a snowmobile ride, Kotz persists until she gives in. After Witha discloses her life story, largely consisting of trauma and loss in Germany, Kotz buys two plane tickets to Berlin, pushing Witha to confront her pain and inserting herself into Witha's life with a shocking level of entitlement.

Worst of all, in Berlin, Kotz sexually assaults Witha. Kotz starts kissing her, after which she says, "No," and abruptly moves away. Kotz continues to wax lyrical about how beautiful Witha is, moving closer and closer after being told to stop. Witha falls backward onto the bed, still unconsenting as Kotz climbs on top of her and begins kissing her cleavage and then kissing her mouth, until finally Witha yells, "Stop, stop! You need to stop now. Please."

Straight up, this is sexual assault. No ifs or buts about it.

Following this, there is a montage of scenes where Witha is seemingly apologising for not being attracted to Kotz... explaining why she's not attracted to her, why any love that she feels is platonic... feeling the need to provide excuses and justifications because she said no while someone was assaulting her.

At the end of this awful montage, Kotz acts pitiable and pathetic, fainting from the overwhelming trauma of... being told no. Give me a break, mate! You're a creep! Why should I care how you feel? Why is Witha being framed as the person at fault? Get stuffed with the woe-is-me bullshit. Take your pity party and shove it up your arse.

This isn't an unrequited love story, as I was previously told. It's an abusive relationship which, fortunately, didn't get properly started.

A butch aggressively coming onto an unconsenting feminine woman is an incredibly lesbophobic trope, even seen in more recent media, such as Below Her Mouth. Butch masculinity, and the sexuality of masculine-of-centre females, should not be demonised like this... and sexual assault should not be romanticised.

What is Kotzebue's gender identity? I dunno. Don't particularly care, either. What I do know is that this is a butch and/or trans movie, and it is lesbophobic, butchphobic, and/or transphobic.

Between the creepy protagonist, indulgent and meandering writing, poor acting, and a half-arsed side story involving the sexual abuse of young girls, I really didn't enjoy this one. I encourage you to make up your own mind, and disagree if you see fit.