It’s Valentine’s Day in the early aughts. Rudy Giuliani plays a hand in New York politics, and residents are still recovering from the events of September 11. There are talks of a memorial, among other commemorations. Across the river, bus drivers are on strike and a young, self-proclaimed “Jersey girl” rides a trucker in the parking lot of the New Jersey Turnpike gas station. As Ponyboi (played by newcomer River Gallo) amps his client up with theatrical ad libs, the stout john offers a note: Could Ponyboi turn it down a notch and consider speaking less?
This droll opening scene, which begins with the sweaty tension of sex before landing on smirking humor, is emblematic of Esteban Arango’s feature Ponyboi. Premiering at Sundance in the U.S. Dramatic Competition and written by Gallo, its intersex lead who uses they/them pronouns, Ponyboi revises the crime drama by putting...
This droll opening scene, which begins with the sweaty tension of sex before landing on smirking humor, is emblematic of Esteban Arango’s feature Ponyboi. Premiering at Sundance in the U.S. Dramatic Competition and written by Gallo, its intersex lead who uses they/them pronouns, Ponyboi revises the crime drama by putting...
- 1/26/2024
- by Lovia Gyarkye
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Depending on how you look at it, “Ponyboi” is either a Trojan horse for exploring nonbinary gender identity or a hackneyed crime movie with a radically unorthodox queer protagonist. Either way, it’s a sordid yet stylish showcase for intersex actor (and activist) River Gallo, who uses “they/them” pronouns and sees the project as an opportunity to educate audiences about the social and psychological aspects of exhibiting both male and female traits in a world that classifies people in one box or the other.
It’s ironic therefore that, apart from Gallo’s category-defying title character, the rest of the ensemble is populated by such familiar stereotypes. Sparkling like a rhinestone in the rough, Ponyboi stands out amid a lineup of cartoon gangsters, tough-guy dealers and gum-smacking prostitutes — lowlifes recycled from a hundred late-night cable movies with superficially similar plots.
Still, cinema history is short on anyone remotely like Gallo,...
It’s ironic therefore that, apart from Gallo’s category-defying title character, the rest of the ensemble is populated by such familiar stereotypes. Sparkling like a rhinestone in the rough, Ponyboi stands out amid a lineup of cartoon gangsters, tough-guy dealers and gum-smacking prostitutes — lowlifes recycled from a hundred late-night cable movies with superficially similar plots.
Still, cinema history is short on anyone remotely like Gallo,...
- 1/26/2024
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
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