Capsule Review: Red Without Blue

By Jesse Hawthorne Flicks, taken from the Film Arts at Sundance blog.

How about the last time you've been to a movie where the audience responds with a standing ovation?! This was what happened at the world premiere of RED WITHOUT BLUE which screened at Slamdance this week. The film follows Mark & Claire (twin brothers at birth) and their family, as they all adapt to Claire's decision to make the transition from male to female. The film starts off a bit swirled, but once the story kicks in, there's no turning your head from the screen. (Not even to check your Blackberry for messages or the time.) The San Francisco based filmmaker Brooke Sebold and now Paris-based filmmakers Benita & Todd Sills all co-directed this heartbreaking moment in time when one person's decision creates a ripple effect among their own family. What's most interesting is how the film, by interviewing extensively each member of the family over three years, ultimately brings the family closer together. As I keep going back over the film in my head, the universality of family's confronting the changes and growths in each family member (if it be a new job, new relationship, new outlook on life, etc.), RED WITHOUT BLUE punctuates what a great documentary can do: Present a certain moment in one person(s) history. And that history grows and changes everyday. The film conluded filming last year and I already want to know how they are all doing. I better go call my own parents instead.