Close to You

Trans stories are important, but in the wrong hands they can lose their potency.

Such is the case with the flimsy Close to You, which turns a trip home for Toronto resident Sam (Elliot Page) into a repetitive, didactic, and borderline insulting exercise in acceptance.

Filmed with minimal visual foresight and written with even less, Dominic Savage’s feature plays like a short work that’s been padded to 90-plus minutes. Expanding a story developed with Page, Savage struggles to spark and sustain momentum as Sam stresses to housemate Emily (Sook-Yin Lee, Hedwig and the Angry Inch) about seeing his family for the first time in four years — seemingly the first time since he transitioned. And though partial intrigue arises as Sam unexpectedly reconnects with first love Katherine (Hillary Baack, The Sound of Metal) on the train, the film soon enters Afterschool Special territory at his homestead.

The welcome that awaits him is one of clichéd elephants in the room and well-meaning family members stumbling over verbal miscues and excessively apologizing for their gaffes. Certain characters cross lines and arguments occur, putting Sam in increasingly awkward situations that he’d hoped to avoid, though a few heartfelt conversations occur, particularly with his dad (Peter Outerbridge, Cool Runnings), whose joy at his once-troubled son finding happiness is palpable — despite the on-the-nose lines he utters.

Though Savage intends to convey a sense of realism, Close to You instead carries an improvised feel that may explain the hackneyed dialogue. While certain viewers may need to witness such blunt, obvious interactions in order to shed whatever anti-trans bigotry they may unknowingly carry, others a little farther along in their allyship are likely to feel a bit condescended to listening to the Trans Rights 101 talk on display.

The poorly-conceived script and amateurish filmmaking cheapens a fairly strong performance by Page, whose shared scenes with the likewise respectable Baack offer glimpses of a far stronger and more compelling film. With this pedagogic effort behind him, perhaps more engaging trans tales lie ahead.

Grade: C-minus. Rated R. Starts Aug. 16 at Grail Moviehouse.

(Photo: Greenwich Entertainment)