Framing Agnes is a 2022 Canadian documentary film, directed by Chase Joynt.[3] An examination of transgender histories, the film centres on Joynt and a cast of transgender actors reenacting various case studies from Harold Garfinkel's work with transgender clients at the University of California, Los Angeles.[4]
| Framing Agnes | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Chase Joynt |
| Written by | Chase Joynt Morgan M. Page |
| Produced by | Samantha Curley Shant Joshi Brooke Sebold |
| Starring | Angelica Ross Zackary Drucker Jen Richards Max Wolf Valerio Silas Howard Stephen Ira |
| Cinematography | Aubree Bernier-Clarke |
| Edited by | Cecilio Escobar Brooke Sebold |
Production companies | Fae Pictures Level Ground |
Release date |
|
Running time | 75 minutes |
| Country | Canada |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $48,147[1][2] |
Synopsis
editThe film explores the concept of the trans icon. It uses a hybrid format, combining scholarly analysis with clips based on archived interviews, filmed with transgender actors.
Background
editThe film is an expansion of Joynt's short film of the same title, which premiered in 2019.[3][4]
Cast
editThe cast includes Angelica Ross, Zackary Drucker, Jen Richards, Max Wolf Valerio, Silas Howard and Stephen Ira.[5]
Release and reception
editThe film premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival,[3] where Joynt won both the Audience Award and the Innovator Prize in the NEXT program.[6] In a critical review in Paste, Shayna Maci Warner wrote, "As a cinematic experience, the film feels pulled in several directions, formally incomplete and jagged."[4] IndieWire's review was similarly mixed, commenting negatively on the high proportion of academic content in the documentary, making it "feel more a history class than a story."[7]
The film was longlisted for the Jean-Marc Vallée DGC Discovery Award,[8] and shortlisted for the DGC Allan King Award for Best Documentary Film at the 2022 Directors Guild of Canada awards.[9]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 80% of 40 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.4/10. The website's consensus reads: "Framing Agnes may be frustratingly uneven as a work of cinematic storytelling, but that's often outweighed by its thoughtful expansion of established historical narrative."[10] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 69 out of 100, based on 9 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[11]
References
edit- ^ "Framing Agnes (2022)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
- ^ "Framing Agnes (2022)". The Numbers. Nash Information Services, LLC. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
- ^ a b c Sharp, Morgan (January 31, 2022). "Toronto filmmaker Chase Joynt on framing Agnes". Toronto Star.
- ^ a b c Warner, Shayna Maci (January 30, 2022). "The Intriguing Ideas and Rich Source Material of Framing Agnes Are Obscured by Its Own Meta". Paste.
- ^ Knegt, Peter (January 28, 2022). "The extraordinary new film Framing Agnes interrogates how trans stories are told — and by whom". CBC News.
- ^ Townsend, Kelly (January 31, 2022). "Framing Agnes wins two prizes at Sundance". Playback.
- ^ Dry, Jude (January 28, 2022). "'Framing Agnes' Review: High Concept Trans Documentary Is Too Meta for Its Own Good". IndieWire. Retrieved February 20, 2022.
- ^ "Jean-Marc Vallée DGC Discovery Award Long List Drops at Visionaries". Yahoo! Movies. September 11, 2022. Archived from the original on September 29, 2022.
- ^ Vlessing, Etan (September 23, 2022). "DGC Awards: 'Nightmare Alley,' 'Crimes of the Future,' 'Night Raiders' Lead Nominees". The Hollywood Reporter.
- ^ "Framing Agnes". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
- ^ "Framing Agnes". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved February 14, 2023.