Queer epic offers a multifaceted character study of trans girls, while keeping audiences hooked for a a whopping runtime – from Scotland’s Weird Weekend
Making a film this long that manages to be entertaining for the entire gargantuan runtime of four-and-a- half hours is an enormous achievement for which Weard should be heartily congratulated. She describes her creation as a “trans girl exploitation movie full of sex and violence filtered through a DIY underground aesthetic”, and while it is that, Castration Movie is so gripping not because of its sexual content but because of how real it is. The grainy texture and handheld camera add to this effect, but its realism lies in the dialogue, the acting, and the relationships between the character. Michaela and her friends resemble common people. The frankness with which they speak to each other, their sincere but not always successful attempts to support each other, and even the topics of conversation, from the ethics of …