Trans | |
---|---|
Directed by | Julian Goldberger |
Written by |
|
Produced by |
|
Starring |
|
Cinematography | Jesse Rosen |
Edited by | Affonso Gonçalves |
Music by |
|
Production companies |
|
Distributed by | Cowboy Booking International |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 80 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Trans is a 1998 American independent film written and directed by Julian Goldberger. It is based on a story by Goldberger, Michael Robinson and Martin Garner, and stars Ryan Daugherty as Ryan Kazinski. It was filmed in Fort Myers, Florida. [1] [2]
The film is in part inspired by the work of Athens, Georgia-based filmmaker James Herbert, particularly his collaborations with the band R.E.M. [3]
In a southwestern Florida youth detention center, Ryan Kazinski is having a difficult time with his confinement. Through prisoners' interactions with the guards and Ryan's own experience with the warden, the harsh conditions and level of discipline in the facility are shown.
While Ryan is on trash pickup detail, a fight breaks out between two inmates. In the ensuing confusion, Kazinsky and several inmates escape the prison. The young men run through an orange grove and a swamp, eventually coming to a farmhouse where they enter and steal civilian clothes. The inmates leave the farmhouse and travel down a dirt road to a rural convenience store where Ryan steals an ice cream bar. While he is eating in the restroom, the other two escapees steal a truck and drive away, leaving Ryan behind. Ryan emerges to find them gone and is questioned by some of the locals who take a liking to him and ask him about his plans and whether he intends to keep running. One of the locals gives Ryan a ride into town.
In the city, Ryan spends time listening to a street musician and talking with a parking meter. Ryan then ends up in a supermarket where he inhales nitrous oxide from whipped cream cans and observes and interacts with customers. Upon leaving the supermarket, Ryan steps on the bottle cap of one of two men who are drinking beer on the hood of a car. The men become offended and one proceeds to beat Ryan unconscious. While unconscious, Ryan has a vision of a silhouetted woman against a blue sky.
Ryan is recognized and awakened by three other ex-inmates, with whom he attends a party. He leaves, assuring his friends that he has a place to stay. Ryan visits his brother, who questions him as to why he ran when he only had one month left of his sentence to serve. Ryan cannot answer, and informs his brother of his plan to go to Colorado and seek out his mother. Ryan's brother then reluctantly tells him to leave before he becomes too attached to him again.
Ryan enters a bus station and asks for a one-way ticket to Denver. He discovers that he doesn't have the money for the ticket, and after attempting to bribe the bus station manager, he is thrown out of the station. Ryan then hitches a ride with a lady who takes him to a doughnut shop. While she is inside, he discovers a gun in her purse and steals it before running away.
Ryan is later approached by one of the other escapees who enlists his help in breaking into a veterinary clinic to steal drugs. The two break in, but while the other inmate steals the drugs, Ryan is distracted by the dogs in the kennels, one of which he frees and later places in the window of his brother's room.
Soon after, Ryan is spotted by police. He pulls out his gun, which the police notice, and then runs. The police fire two shots, but it is never made clear if Ryan is hit. The following morning, Ryan is seen observing planes taking off and landing at a small airport. He approaches a man sitting at a table and asks if he could take him up. The man notices the gun in Ryan's hand, and we then see the plane taking off. The film ends with Ryan looking out of the window smiling.
The rural country store in the film is in actuality The Corkscrew Country Store in Estero, Florida. [5] The animal clinic scenes were filmed at the Miracle Mile Animal Clinic in Fort Myers.
Trans received screenings at the 1998 Toronto International Film Festival, the 1999 Berlin Film Festival, the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, and the 1999 South By Southwest Film Festival. [6]
Despite praise from critics and recognition at film festivals, Trans had difficulty in securing distribution, and went a year after its 1998 Toronto festival screening without a deal. Robert Horton of Film Comment wrote, "Given the state of the arthouse/indie scene these days, it can't be too surprising that a film like Trans is left by the roadside...yet Trans is exactly the sort of smallish, idiosyncratically personal movie that belongs in the arthouse loop; for various reasons it will never draw the Happy, Texas -size crowd, but it will mesmerize the kind of audience that regularly takes a chance on something at a repertory house with an adventurous calendar." [7]
Of the film's distribution concerns, Brett Sokul of Miami New Times wrote, "Despite the reams of praise, conventional industry wisdom saw Trans as 'difficult,' i.e., not a reliable arthouse ticket-seller. It's an attitude that dramatizes the increasingly commercial pressures on the world of independent film, once a respite from the dictates of the box office but now often just as enslaved to it." [2]
Eventually, Trans secured a distribution deal with Cowboy Booking International and was given a limited theatrical release in the U.S. on January 7, 2000. [8] [9] The film was also aired in the U.S. on both The Independent Film Channel [6] and the Sundance Channel. [10]
Trans was first released on DVD by Fox Lorber on November 20, 2001. The DVD features the film, a trailer, the soundtrack, and web links. [11] It was re-released on DVD by Wellspring Media on December 26, 2006. [12]
Wesley Morris of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote "Trans itches to be hyper-stylized but settles for occasional flights into coolness". [13] Sam Adams of Philadelphia City Paper opined, "Goldberger’s exceptionally weird debut invokes Jarmusch, Southern Gothic and THX 1138 -style sci-fi". [14] Gavin Smith from Film Comment magazine said, "Julian Goldberger's idiosyncratic Trans, which follows the nocturnal wanderings and random encounters of a juvenile detention center escapee amid the strip malls and neighborhoods of Ft. Myers, Florida, may have had a budget a fraction of anything in competition, but it showed ten times the inspiration and cinematic integrity." [15] Lawrence Van Gelder from The New York Times wrote, "Trans remains a sensitive evocation of youthful turmoil". [16] In a favorable review from The Village Voice , critic Amy Taubin wrote: "What's most remarkable about Trans is how faithful it is to Ryan's consciousness and to the way it shifts between fantasy and a mesmerized response to details of the outside world." [8]
The film also caught the attention of producer, Ted Hope, who offered to produce Goldberger's next feature, The Hawk Is Dying . [17]
The score contains music by Fat Mama and her Trans World Orchestra and Jonathan Goldberger. [1] [20] The film includes the following tracks: [21]
Blood Simple is a 1984 American independent neo-noir crime film written, edited, produced, and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, and starring John Getz, Frances McDormand, Dan Hedaya, and M. Emmet Walsh. Its plot follows a Texas bartender who is having a love affair with his boss’s wife. When his boss discovers the affair, he hires a private investigator to kill the couple. It was the directorial debut of the Coens and the first major film of cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld, who later became a director, as well as the feature-film debut of McDormand.
Gregg Araki is an American filmmaker. He is noted for his heavy involvement with the New Queer Cinema movement. His film Kaboom (2010) was the first winner of the Cannes Film Festival Queer Palm.
Sir Peter Reginald Frederick Hall CBE was an English theatre, opera and film director. His obituary in The Times declared him "the most important figure in British theatre for half a century" and on his death, a Royal National Theatre statement declared that Hall's "influence on the artistic life of Britain in the 20th century was unparalleled". In 2018, the Laurence Olivier Awards, recognising achievements in London theatre, changed the award for Best Director to the Sir Peter Hall Award for Best Director.
Johnathon Schaech is an American actor and screenwriter. He has been working as an actor since the early 1990s.
Julian David Morris is an English actor. After appearing in the British television series The Knock (1996) and Fish (2000) during his teenage years, he had his first starring role in the American slasher film Cry Wolf (2005). He subsequently had supporting roles in the thriller Donkey Punch (2008), the historical drama Valkyrie (2008), and another slasher film Sorority Row (2009).
A Union in Wait is a 2001 American documentary film about same-sex marriage directed by Ryan Butler. It was the first documentary about same-sex marriage to air on national television in the United States.
Julian Goldberger is an independent film director and musician based in Los Angeles.
Fuckland is a 2000 Argentine black comedy-drama film written and directed by José Luis Márques. The picture was executive produced by Diego Dubcovsky, and produced by Edi Flehner and Mariano Suez.
Sleeping Beauties is a 1999 short comedy film directed by Jamie Babbit. It premiered at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival. It stars Sarah Lassez as a morgue beautician trying to get over her ex-girlfriend, played by Radha Mitchell. Babbit made the film with help from David Fincher and Michael Douglas. It played at several film festivals during 1998 and 1999, and was later distributed on a DVD collection of short films by production company POWER UP. Babbit won a Channel 4 award for the film.
William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe is a documentary film about the late American civil rights attorney William Kunstler directed by daughters Emily Kunstler and Sarah Kunstler that premiered at the 25th Sundance Film Festival in January 2009.
Aden Young is a Canadian-Australian actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Daniel Holden in the SundanceTV drama Rectify, for which he was twice nominated for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series. He has appeared in American, Canadian and Australian productions and since 2024 has performed the lead role of Det. Henry Graff in Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent.
Jonathan David Stack is an American documentary filmmaker. He is also a co-founder of World Vasectomy Day.
Sleepwalk with Me is a 2012 American independent comedy film co-written by, directed by, and starring Mike Birbiglia. It also stars Lauren Ambrose, James Rebhorn, Carol Kane, and Cristin Milioti. Before making the film, Birbiglia had already told the autobiographical story of his struggles to become a stand-up comedian while dealing with REM behavior disorder and a failing relationship in a one-man show and a book.
Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child is a 2010 documentary film directed by Tamra Davis. It crosscuts excerpts from Davis' on-camera interview with the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat and anecdotes from his friends and associates. The film was shown at the Sundance Film Festival in 2010.
The 15th Independent Spirit Awards, honoring the best in independent filmmaking for 1999, were announced on March 25, 2000. It was hosted by Jennifer Tilly.
Fruitvale Station is a 2013 American biographical drama film written and directed by Ryan Coogler. It is Coogler's feature directorial debut, and is based on the events leading to the death of Oscar Grant, a young man killed in 2009 by Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police officer Johannes Mehserle at the Fruitvale district station in Oakland, California. The film stars Michael B. Jordan as Grant, with Kevin Durand and Chad Michael Murray playing the two BART police officers involved in Grant's death, although their names were changed for the film. Melonie Diaz, Ahna O'Reilly, and Octavia Spencer also star.
We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks is a 2013 American independent documentary film about the organization established by Julian Assange, and people involved in the collection and distribution of secret information and media by whistleblowers. Directed by Alex Gibney, it covers a period of several decades, and includes background material. Gibney received his fifth nomination for Best Documentary Screenplay from the Writers Guild of America Awards for this film.
Whiplash is a 2014 American psychological drama film written and directed by Damien Chazelle, starring Miles Teller, J. K. Simmons, Paul Reiser, and Melissa Benoist. It focuses on an ambitious music student and aspiring jazz drummer (Teller), who is pushed to his limit by his abusive instructor (Simmons) at the fictional Shaffer Conservatory in New York City.
Mississippi Grind is a 2015 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. It stars Ben Mendelsohn, Ryan Reynolds, Sienna Miller, Lio Tipton, Alfre Woodard and Robin Weigert. The film was released by A24 on September 25, 2015.
Adam is a 2019 American comedy-drama film directed by Rhys Ernst, from a screenplay by Ariel Schrag, based upon the novel of the same name by Schrag. It stars Nicholas Alexander, Bobbi Menuez, Leo Sheng, Chloe Levine, and Margaret Qualley.