Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Reeling 2008

by Anna Pulley

To Each Her Own

Jess (Hannah Hogan) is torn between a comfortable, predictable life in suburbia and an uncertain, though decidedly happier future with Casey (Tracy Rae) in To Each Her Own, a thoughtful, if not somewhat over-the-top, romantic drama from Canadian writer/director/producer Heather Tobin.

Set in the sleepy suburbs somewhere in Canada, the story is aboot (hee) Jess, a baby-faced lass living a ho-hum live with her husband Trevor (Shaughnessy Redden), her hopelessly devoted high school sweetheart who wants nothing more than to start a family. Jess doesn’t have many interests, except to follow the path her mother laid out for her, which was essentially: Don’t become a lesbian, you short haired, softball-playing dyke!

Of course, despite Jess’s best efforts to proscribe to that doctrine, once she meets Casey, a breezy landscaper with a bevy of one-night stands under her belt, all of that changes. Casey eagerly sets about ransacking Jess’s internalized homophobia and the two share an abundance of budding romance montages, with lots of play wrestling, meaningful glances and pristine sunsets. While the getting-to-know-you aesthetic does drag on at times, To Each Her Own is ultimately less about the two protagonists than it is about dealing with a town full of homophobes. Everyone they encounter is either a lesbian or someone who vocally hates lesbians – there’s little between these two extremes. While I understand that out queers are subject to verbal ridicule and disdain, the film really belabors this point, as if being called a dyke is the worst kind of discrimination one can encounter. Also, Jess’s mother is something of a cartoon character – everything she utters is hate-filled dyke bashing. The hate rhetoric as a whole is a bit heavy-handed and the film could certainly benefit from addressing the issues it seeks to highlight with more subtlety. Aside from that, the film is sweet, if not fairly predictable (except for one of Casey’s last lines, which is unintentionally hilarious, but I won’t ruin it for you).

Coming out is a theme as timeless as strap-ons, so if you’re in the mood for some nostalgia, get thee out to see To Each Her Own.