Two 4 One

Last updated

Two 4 One
Two 4 One poster.jpg
Film poster
Directed by Maureen Bradley
Written byMaureen Bradley
Produced by
  • Daniel Hogg
  • Maureen Bradley
  • Glen Wood
Starring
CinematographyAmy Belling
Music by
  • David Parfit
  • Marc Junker
Release date
  • 21 September 2014 (2014-09-21)(CIFF)
Running time
77 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish

Two 4 One is a 2014 Canadian comedy-drama film [1] that marks the debut of Victoria, British Columbia filmmaker Maureen Bradley. [2] The film stars Gavin Crawford as Adam, a trans man who agrees to have a one-night stand with his ex-girlfriend Miriam (Naomi Snieckus) during which he uses a mail order at-home pregnancy kit to artificially inseminate her with donated sperm. [1] However, an accident during the encounter leaves both Adam and Miriam pregnant, forcing Adam, who has not yet completed the surgical phase of his gender transition, to confront the ways in which the pregnancy will influence his sense of gender identity. [1]

Contents

After premiering on September 21, 2014 at the Calgary International Film Festival., [3] the film gained traction among the LGBT community and extended its screenings to queer and LGBT film festivals across North America and the UK. It received multiple nominations for the 2015 Leo Awards and won three best film awards that same year.

Cast

Production

Development

Two 4 One is loosely inspired by the real-life pregnancy of Thomas Beatie, a trans man who gave birth to three children between 2008-2010 in place of his infertile wife. After undergoing sex reassignment surgery on his chest region, but keeping his internal reproductive organs intact, Beatie and his wife used artificial insemination and donated sperm to impregnate Beatie in 2007. Bradley used Beatie's pregnancy as a scientific basis from which to build the fictional plot of Two 4 One, [4] adding in the element of an accidental pregnancy to contrast the film's theme of sexual identity.

Filming

Financial backing for the film was contributed by Telefilm Canada, National Screen Institute, and the BC Arts Council, as well as a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo. [2] Due to a limited budget and 15-day filming window, Bradley's choice to film in her hometown was both inevitable and serendipitous, with Victoria's coastal backdrop being a key feature to the film's theme of existential questioning. [4]

Reception

Critical response

The film received mixed reviews, with some praising Bradley for creating an honest and dynamic portray of the struggles faced by the transgender community, and others criticising her use of humor as a vehicle for discussing serious transgender issues.

Writing for the National Post , Rebecca Tucker states that by placing the focus of the film on Adam and Miriam's love story, rather than Adam's sexual reassignment surgery, is "what makes the film work ... The habit [of film] to focus specifically on transition –on treating the bodies’ of trans people as physical curiosities open for discussion –is wickedly dehumanizing." [5] Bradley’s highlighting of a transgender character within "the greater context of humane experience, not just trans experience, is important particularly as a means of garnering greater acceptance, understanding, and tolerance: simply put, it communicates rather bluntly that trans people are people, too." [5] Brad Wheeler of The Globe and Mail also gave the film a three out of four stars rating, stating that while "the acting is uniformly unforced and the tone is gentle throughout the turns" there is fault in how the "highly awkward situations are resolved with an efficiency that is more wishful thinking than reality." [6]

Susan G. Cole, a feminist writer for NOW Magazine , describes the film as having issues with tone, stating: "this is supposed to be a comedy, but the struggles of transgendered people are very real and not funny. And writer/director Bradley gives us an easy ending that makes it look like transphobia doesn’t exist." [7]

Accolades

At the 2015 Leo Awards, Two 4 One received 5 nominations, including: Best Motion Picture, Best Director (for Bradley), Best Screenplay (for Bradley), Best Casting, and Best Costume Design. [8] At the 2015 Available Light Film Festival, Victoria Film Festival, and Vancouver International Film Festival, the film won Best Feature/Canadian Fiction Film. [9] Additional awards include Outstanding Performance, Male Category, for Gavin Crawford at the ACTRA Toronto Awards, and a nomination for Best Emerging BC Filmmaker for Maureen Bradely at the Vancouver International Film Festival. [9]

The film gained international recognition through screenings across North America and the UK, garnering award nominations and wins at: Pittsburgh LGBT Film Festival (Audience Award for Best Comedy), Chicago International LGBTQ+ Film Festival (Special Jury Prize), and Translations: The Seattle Transgender Film Festival (Audience Award for Best Feature Film). [9]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gavin Crawford</span> Canadian comedian and actor

Gavin Crawford is a Canadian comedian and actor, best known for The Gavin Crawford Show and This Hour Has 22 Minutes. He currently hosts the panel show, Because News, on CBC Radio One.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helen Baxendale</span> English actress

Helen Victoria Baxendale is an English actress of stage and television, known for her roles as Rachel Bradley in the British comedy drama Cold Feet (1997–2003), and Emily Waltham in the American sitcom Friends (1998–1999).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacob Tierney</span> Canadian actor and director

Jacob Daniel Tierney is a Canadian actor, director, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known for playing Eric in Are You Afraid of the Dark? (1990–1992) and as the co-writer, director, and executive producer of the sitcom Letterkenny (2016–present), in which he also plays Pastor Glen.

<i>Comedy Now!</i> Canadian comedy television series

Comedy Now! is a Canadian comedy television series which debuted in 1997 and ended in 2014 featuring the newest in Canadian comedic talent. The show has won numerous Gemini Awards as well as many international awards. It is broadcast in Canada on The Comedy Network and CTV. In the United States, the program airs on Comedy Central.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Candis Cayne</span> American actress and performance artist

Candis Cayne is an American actress and performance artist. Cayne performed in New York City nightclubs in drag since the 1990s, and came out as transgender in 1996; Cayne came to national attention in 2007 for portraying transgender mistress Carmelita on ABC's prime time drama Dirty Sexy Money. The role makes Cayne the first transgender actress to play a recurring transgender character in primetime. She is perhaps best known for her recurring role as the Fairy Queen on the fantasy series The Magicians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott Turner Schofield</span> American actor, writer and producer

Scott Turner Schofield is an American actor, writer, producer, and speaker. He is a transgender activist, and uses he/him and they/them pronouns. He was the first out transgender actor in Daytime television, and the first out trans man to earn an Emmy nomination for acting.

Transparent is a 2005 documentary film written, directed, and produced by Jules Rosskam. Its title is a play on the words “trans” and “parent” implying the invisibility of transgender parenting in society today. The documentary follows 19 transgender men from 14 different states who have given birth to, and in most cases, gone on to raise, their biological children and the challenges they face while transitioning.

We're Funny That Way began as an annual charity comedy festival in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in 1996. Launched in 1996 by Maggie Cassella, the festival featured stand-up and sketch comedy shows by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender comedians. It ran until 2012 when it took a five-year hiatus, returning in 2017. The festival has grown to a broader performance festival and now includes musicians, story-tellers, burlesque artists, plays, drag performances, generally following the genres associated with live cabaret.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of transgender people in the United States</span>

This article addresses the history of transgender people in the United States from prior to Western contact until the present. There are a few historical accounts of transgender people that have been present in the land now known as the United States at least since the early 1600s. Before Western contact, some Native American tribes had third gender people whose social roles varied from tribe to tribe. People dressing and living differently from the gender roles typical of their sex assigned at birth and contributing to various aspects of American history and culture have been documented from the 17th century to the present day. In the 20th and 21st centuries, advances in gender-affirming surgery as well as transgender activism have influenced transgender life and the popular perception of transgender people in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Beatie</span> Speaker, author, and transgender advocate

Thomas Trace Beatie is an American public speaker, author, and advocate of transgender and sexuality issues, with a focus on transgender fertility and reproductive rights.

Transgender pregnancy is the gestation of one or more embryos or fetuses by transgender people. As of 2023, the possibility is restricted to those born with female reproductive systems. However, transition-related treatments may impact fertility. Transgender men and nonbinary people who are or wish to become pregnant face social, medical, legal, and psychological concerns. As uterus transplantations are currently experimental, and none have successfully been performed on trans women, they cannot become pregnant.

Gavin Crawford's Wild West is a Canadian television special, which aired on CBC Television in July 2013. Wild West stars Gavin Crawford as six distinct characters, each representing a different aspect of the society of the Canadian province of Alberta, in a mockumentary format. The characters include:

<i>Boy Meets Girl</i> (2015 TV series) British TV series or programme

Boy Meets Girl is a BBC Two sitcom starring Rebecca Root, Harry Hepple and Denise Welch. It tells the story of the developing relationship between 26-year-old Leo (Hepple) and 40-year-old Judy (Root). The script, by Elliott Kerrigan, was discovered through the Trans Comedy Award, a 2013 BBC talent search for scripts with positive portrayals of transgender characters.

Maureen Bradley is a Canadian film director, producer, screenwriter, media artist, professor, and curator. She has produced over fifty short films and her work has been recognized internationally. Through her work, she challenges traditional gender norms and opposes the heteronormativity that dominates the television and film industry. Her focus is to bring more nontraditional representations of sex, gender, and sexuality to the forefront of film. Her work predominantly features queer characters and themes, including her most recent work and first feature film, Two 4 One. Bradley currently works as an Associate Professor at the University of Victoria in the Writing Department.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naomi Snieckus</span> Canadian actress

Naomi Snieckus is a Canadian actress, best known for her regular television role as Bobbi in Mr. D and her appearance as Nina in Saw 3D. She is also a podcast host.

Jake Graf is an English actor, screenwriter, director, and transgender rights activist. Graf specializes in short films dealing with transgender issues in an effort to normalize queer and trans experiences to a wider, more mainstream audience. Many of Graf's films emphasize the daily lived experiences of trans men.

<i>A Fantastic Woman</i> 2017 film by Sebastián Lelio

A Fantastic Woman is a 2017 drama film directed by Sebastián Lelio, written by Lelio and Gonzalo Maza. Produced by Juan de Dios and Pablo Larraín, the film stars Daniela Vega and Francisco Reyes. It won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Oscars and competed for the Golden Bear at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michaela Jaé Rodriguez</span> American actress and singer (born 1991)

Michaela Antonia Jaé Rodriguez, formerly known as Mj Rodriguez, is an American actress and singer. Born in Newark, New Jersey, Rodriguez attended several performing arts schools in her youth before being cast in a theater production of Rent as Angel Dumott Schunard, winning the 2011 Clive Barnes Award for her performance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT reproduction</span> Theoretical biological reproduction by LGBT people

LGBT reproduction refers to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people having biological children by means of assisted reproductive technology. It is distinct from LGBT parenting, which is a broader cultural phenomenon including LGBT adoption. In recent decades, developmental biologists have been researching and developing techniques to facilitate same-sex reproduction.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Two 4 One and the accidental pregnancy". Xtra! , September 29, 2014.
  2. 1 2 "Victoria filmmaker aims to transcend transgender cliché". Victoria Times-Colonist , November 21, 2013.
  3. ↑ "Man becomes pregnant in Calgary film fest movie" Archived 2015-09-12 at the Wayback Machine . Calgary Sun , September 20, 2014.
  4. 1 2 Armstrong-Morris, Greg (September 29, 2014). "Two 4 One and the accidental pregnancy". Daily Xtra . Retrieved March 27, 2018.
  5. 1 2 Tucker, Rebecca (July 23, 2015). "'Two 4 One' garners understanding by showing the human experience, not just trans experience". National Post . Retrieved March 26, 2018.
  6. ↑ Wheeler, Brad (July 17, 2015). "Two 4 One: Gender-bender comedy is sensitive, subtle and truly sure-handed". The Globe and Mail . Retrieved March 26, 2018.
  7. ↑ Cole, Susan (July 16, 2015). "Two 4 One". NOW Magazine . Retrieved March 26, 2018.
  8. ↑ Leo Awards (Retrieved on March 28, 2018). “Winners & Nominees”, Retrieved from http://www.leoawards.com/winners_and_nominees/ Archived 2018-04-01 at the Wayback Machine
  9. 1 2 3 Two 4 One (Retrieved on March 28, 2018). “Awards”, Retrieved from http://two4onefilm.com/awards/
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.