The bodyswap movie is a classic trope that has largely been dominated by a single film: Freaky Friday. And yet, it’s a rich idea for modern storytelling. As issues surrounding gender non-conforming and transgender people are demonized more and more by extreme conservative activists, there is definitely a place to the bodyswap film to explore issues of gender and sexuality outside the realm of comedy. Thankfully, Homebody is here to fill that niche.
“I had a dream about you.”
Johnny (Tre Ryder) is a lonely, introverted kid. He really only feels close to one person in his life: His babysitter, Melanie (Colby Minifie). Together, they have dance parties, color, and go to the park. Does Johnny want to be with Melanie? Does he want her to be his mother? Or does he want on some level to be Melanie?
When a call from another family forces her to cut their time together short one day, Johnny uses an out-of-body meditation technique he saw on YouTube. Afraid that he’s losing Melanie to her new job as a doula, Johnny uses the meditation technique to take over Melanie’s body. Initially, he putters around the house. As Melanie, he plays dress-up. He makes believe what being a woman would be like, and works up the courage to go outside.
Unfortunately, Melanie’s life rapidly intrudes. Johnny reaches out to her maybe-boyfriend, Tom, to find out Melanie’s address. Unfortunately, Tom takes it as an invitation to come over to try to hook up. Beyond that, Johnny keeps ignoring the increasingly urgent messages from the expectant mother for whom Melanie is a doula. The baby is set to come any minute, and Johnny doesn’t seem to understand the seriousness of the issue.
“Melanie….”
Okay, so, Homebody walks a tightrope. Any story about a boy possessing the body of an older woman is going to be… fraught, to say the least. Issues of sexuality and exploration are simultaneously natural to the narrative and also inherently nonconsensual. So it makes sense that the film leans away from some of the expected moments. That said, it leans way too far away from it, in my opinion. At a certain point, the film leaves aside some of the issues of gender in favor of a deeply ill-conceived pregnancy subplot. In it, Johnny (as Melanie) shows up to the house of an expectant mother. He’s asked to help, but doesn’t know what to do. What follows is a sloppy attempt at comedy (I think), as Melanie and Johnny vie for control of her body.
The problem here is two-fold. First, up until this point, the film has slid between slack comedy and dreamlike wonderment. Unfortunately, the pregnancy subplot is far too heavy for comedy. Instead, the film introduces dueling narrators, as Melanie and Johnny bicker and try to relay information. It gets bogged down in silly bodyswap rules we don’t understand, rather than playing with richer thematic material.
But the bigger problem, I think, is that the entire last third of the film abandons the richer genderqueer exploration of the beginning of the film. Johnny is introduced as an introverted kid clearly longing to express his gender in a different way. He’s got long hair, and he gazes longingly at stolen lipstick he’s afraid to put on. But in Melanie’s body, he suddenly feels confident. He can experiment with style. He goes outside, sure that no one will laugh at him wearing a dress and makeup because he’s in Melanie’s body. But the further we move from Johnny using this experience to learn about himself to Johnny just living Melanie’s life, the less it works. It never really recovers the sense of exploration and earnestness that made the film work.
“My babysitter.”
Homebody could easily be a disaster. Honestly, it probably should be a disaster. And while it doesn’t hold together, Homebody is a reasonably solid movie. A lot of that credit goes to Colby Minifie, who grounds the films comedic and dreamlike tones with a layered performance ranging from indie film naturalism to a deeply stilted and charmingly strange comedic presence. She is roundly excellent. Unfortunately, she’s also not enough.
There are definitely some interesting touches to Homebody. I like the way the film uses mirrors, to highlight the viewed and the viewer. It culminates, for me, in a shot of Johnny holding up a makeup mirror for Melanie as she applies lipstick, his face mostly obscured behind a reflection of her own. It’s a smart touch, and one the movie uses freely.
But it also isn’t enough. The last act is a mess. Is it trying to go to the gender essentialist place of saying Johnny can never be a real woman because he can’t give birth? I don’t think so — but the movie’s messaging is sloppy enough to be uncertain. Which… fine, sloppy messaging isn’t inherently bad. Nor are messages that I don’t personally agree with. But I do think the movie needs a stronger thematic throughline. As is, Homebody leaves us with a great performance and some fun ideas, but surprisingly little to chew on.
For more of our Cleveland International Film Festival coverage, click here.