‘Palmer’ announces Justin Timberlake as Hollywood’s last gay savior

Palmer is surprised one morning to find Sam in the house. Her mother is gone – not for the first time – and, as she already has, Vivian welcomes her. They eat together and go to church together. Vivian lets Sam do her hair and play with her makeup. Sam is remarkably oblivious to his behavior, even around Palmer. “You know you’re a boy, right?” Boys don’t play with dolls, ”says Palmer. “Well, I’m a boy, and I do,” Sam shrugs in response.

When Vivian tragically dies in her sleep one night, it’s up to Palmer to take care of Sam. You’d think the two would clash immediately. But Palmer sees how the community, children and adults alike, intimidates Sam for his unwavering confidence in himself to proudly want to dress like a princess and organize tastes with the girls at school. Palmer becomes a staunch supporter and advocate of Sam, and the kind of father figure a boy like this desperately needs.

People, you will never believe it: they save each other.

The best thing about Palmer is that you have already seen it. His Big daddy, but serious. His About a boy, but the boy is gay. I can’t say how well the filmmakers, including director Fisher Stevens and screenwriter Cheryl Guerriero, were aware of this formula, but the film is all the better not to deviate from it, hitting every familiar beat with the precision of plucked strings. the acoustic guitar sheet music you can already hear just by describing this movie.

This loosens the tap on all those aforementioned bottled up emotions and leaves them splashing with all the force of a fire station: a deluge of cathartic appreciation for Sam’s struggle, Palmer’s selflessness, and their courage in the face of the bumpy road. to come into a cruel society.

You will cry and feel good about it. You will be proud of your empathy and waking up. This little boy Sam doesn’t deserve a hard life just because he likes girly things and lives in a city full of homophobes! It’s a film that doubles as a pat on the back for its target audience, and that’s where the slight problem lies.

The message is compelling. Timberlake, to his credit, is excellent, a triumphant return to a promising acting career that at one point seemed wobbly. Allen as Sam is a revelation. Palmer is so observable that you hardly need to pay full attention to it and still reap all the emotional benefits. But it’s that thing where I legitimately liked a movie that I’m not sure I’m happy exists.

In addition to the work “improbable parental figure of a lost child”, there is another increasingly familiar genre Palmer Belongs To: The emotionally manipulative Oscar bait in which a reformed homophobe turns into a gay savior. In other words, well-intentioned movies that don’t work so much, but abuse, the fine line between human insight and exploitation of queer pain.

It’s a complicated tension to discuss, and there are no easy answers as to how to tell these stories, or even if these are stories that should be told.

Although a far superior film, there are ratings of Palmer which remind Joe bell, the drama Mark Wahlberg which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival this fall, but was recently pulled from the release schedule on a date to be determined later this year. There are also echoes of Fall, the next film written, directed and performed by Viggo Mortensen about a gay son who counts with his father’s abusive homophobia as his old age begins to close the closing window of opportunity.

Both films are emotionally grueling stories about the tortured but evolving relationships between unwilling fathers and their gay sons, and the scars that remain from such a strained bond. They both have the potential to be eye-opening entries into complicated conversations about sexuality and masculinity that could do audiences a lot of good.

But both films also enter the discussion of who should tell the stories of those who are marginalized and under-represented. Neither satisfies those who are tired of watching the struggle for queer acceptance filtered through the journeys of single characters and crafted by straight-up creative teams. This shouldn’t totally ignore their creative achievements, but it is a worthy consideration.

How? ‘Or’ What Palmer enter the picture?

Sam is 7 years old. His sexuality is obviously not discussed – again, he is 7 years old. But gender identity and expression are the basis of her relationship with every character in the film, and in particular with Palmer. Those who attack him are portrayed as bigots. But Sam’s journey, while the catalyst for Palmer’s, is secondary to it. This is again a film centered around the redemption of the straight and cis character.

It kind of becomes a trope.

Where once the juicy role of a straight actor played the persecuted queer person, now it is the character who has a crisis of conscience about his role in the persecution that is appealing. It is an evolution in the identity politics of the distribution of queer roles, but still raises the question of the value of this type of narration.

There is a presumption that it is something that is good when in fact, at least in some respects, it does harm. I can’t tell you how inspiring it is to see Justin Timberlake playing a badass who becomes completely in love and accepting a gender non-conforming young boy. It means something – a lot, in fact – to have a father figure on film wholeheartedly supporting a child in this way. But the abuse Palmer witnesses, and the witnesses in the audience, largely initiate, perpetuate, and normalize these things.

It cannot be repeated enough how complicated this all is. Sam is a heroic character, and it’s so refreshing to see him present with unbridled confidence, regardless of gender norms. But it is also infallible. It is impossible not to worship, precocious and generous. It has to be for a story like this to work. Perfection is still needed to balance otherness if the public is to get on board.

It’s beautiful to see how Palmer and different people in the community support and nurture Sam’s interest and identity. He has a healthier upbringing than most, who are constantly silenced, corrected, or abused. When you are older, absent and proud of a support system, you are famous for your fascination with divas and princesses and pretty things. But what if we gave children, little boys, this same permission? What if playing with Barbies was not illegal, a reason for shame?

These questions can be raised in this film, but only because of Palmer’s own heroic compassion.

The idea of ​​a savior requires someone who needs to be saved. This lack of agency, even in a story as enjoyable as this, is a continuation of decades of noxious Hollywood tropes in which queerness and gender identity are used as props.

I have no doubt that if you got this far in this review, you will be someone who will be moved by this film. And I am happy. It was nice to watch this movie and to feel warm inside, to feel good about a better future full of Palmers and Sams.

The fact that the film is so easy to love and emotionally affected is why it deserves such a review as well. And the most valuable thing he can do is invite the conversation, I hope it sparks.