The_Phantom_Projectionist
"Game Face" is a documentary addressing sports participation among gay and transgender individuals in the United States. It's an insightful, relevant production that examines the intricacies of competing openly in what's largely been a conservative holdout. Its subjects are Fallon Fox and Terrence Clemens, and its arenas are professional mixed martial arts and college basketball.It took me a while before I realized why both of these athletes are featured. The Fallon Fox controversy was so big that it could've filled the run time by itself, but the parallels and contrasts between Fox's and Clemens' experiences are intriguing. Both had their lives negatively affected by backlash to their gender/sexuality, but while Fox must battle contention and abuse after being forced to out herself, Clemens spends most of the movie torn between the success he can achieve while remaining closeted and his burning desire to reveal himself to the world. The production shows the hostility that social nonconformity in sports can generate but also the support and humanity such trials inspire. The movie is equal parts inspirational story and cautionary tale.While the film makes a case for the transwomen's participation in sports and highlights the absurdity of shunning someone for their sexuality, it does so only fleetingly and is infinitely more concerned with ensuring that viewers recognize Fallon and Terrence as human beings. You see some of the backlash they experience, mainly in Fox's case, but it's not the most visceral stuff and is relatively easy to deal with. The film's not a platform for its subjects to get even with their detractors, though it does take a swipe at fighter Ashlee Evans-Smith for her two-facedness on the transgender issue. For a film that deals with sensationalized events, it's not very sensational in its own right and isn't out to shock you.Well-shot and well-edited, the movie's accessible even to people who aren't familiar with these sports. Its bid to make you care about these matters is pretty strong, and I'd recommend it to just about anybody.
