FRAMING AGNES turns the talk show format inside out in response to media's ongoing fascination with trans people. The film breathes life into six previously unknown stories from the archives of the UCLA Gender Clinic in the 1950s.... (Full plot summary below)
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FRAMING AGNES turns the talk show format inside out in response to media's ongoing fascination with trans people. The film breathes life into six previously unknown stories from the archives of the UCLA Gender Clinic in the 1950s.
Leave your thoughts about Framing Agnes.
| Film ThreatSabina Dana PlasseThe archival footage, reenactment, well-executed cinematography, and stunning wardrobe and makeup allow Framing Agnes to linger in your thoughts much past its ending. Joynt created an exquisite beauty that banishes the notions that trans is wrong or dirty and highlights how it is wildly misunderstood. |
| The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzWhile there is an early sense in Joynt’s film that it is simply fun to ape the environs of bygone television eras, the re-enactments ultimately work on a narrative level, too. There are intersecting layers to Joynt’s film whose thematic and contextual conversations with one another would be lost were he to simply line one conventional talking head up after another. |
| Los Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinThe docudrama Framing Agnes is a fascinating, multidimensional, mosaic-like glimpse at transgender life from the 1950s to today as interpreted by — and through — a group of transmasculine and transfeminine performers and creatives and one uniquely impressive academic. |
| TheWrapAlonso DuraldeMuch like the UCLA interviews that inspired it, Framing Agnes is a vital part of the historical record, addressing trans life as we know it right now and providing deeper understanding for current and future viewers. |
| The Film StageJose SolísFraming Agnes is not a film about ultimates. It doesn’t pretend to have answers to all the insightful questions it poses; instead it just brims with the thrill of discovery. |
| RogerEbert.comMatt FagerholmWhat makes Chase Joynt’s first solo outing as a feature director, Framing Agnes, such essential viewing is the extent to which it sheds new light on the legacy of trans Americans from the past century and beyond, whose voices are only just beginning to emerge from the vault of obscurity. |
| Paste MagazineShayna Maci WarnerWhile the conceit is clever, these are not new storytelling techniques for documentary or fiction, and in Framing Agnes, they lack a certain follow-through. |
| IndieWireJude DryUnfortunately, Framing Agnes gets too wrapped up in the questions surrounding storytelling to do any actual storytelling. |
| The New York TimesTeo BugbeeThe documentary reminds its audience that it’s impossible to truly know people based on their responses to medical interviews. But this approach unfortunately prevents the film from achieving either catharsis or understanding. |
