Summary

The website content discusses the trans short film "The Actress" starring Isabel Sandoval, drawing connections to "Everything Everywhere All At Once" and exploring themes of identity, authenticity, and the multiverse through a trans lens.

Abstract

The article delves into the significance of Isabel Sandoval's short film "The Actress," which is a trans reimagining of classic cinema roles, and compares its themes to those in the acclaimed film "Everything Everywhere All At Once" (EEAO). It suggests that both works challenge traditional notions of identity and encourage acceptance of one's authentic self. The piece also highlights the influence of "The Matrix" on these films and the broader implications of their narratives for understanding the multiverse and the human experience. The author, Stephenie Magister, emphasizes the importance of trans representation in cinema and provides resources for readers to engage with more trans-inclusive media.

Opinions

The author believes that "The Actress" and EEAO are deeply connected to trans cinema and that these connections are intentional and meaningful.
Isabel Sandoval's work is celebrated for its groundbreaking portrayal of trans experiences and for preempting themes later explored in EEAO.
The article posits that the exploration of the multiverse in these films reflects the complexity of identity and the human condition.
There is an opinion that the challenges faced by characters in accepting their authentic selves mirror the real-world struggles of trans and gender-nonconforming individuals.
The author suggests that audiences should watch "The Actress" to gain a deeper understanding of EEAO and to appreciate the contributions of trans filmmakers.
The piece encourages support for trans creators and the consumption of trans-inclusive media as a way to foster empathy and understanding.
The author expresses admiration for the directors of EEAO, the Daniels, and their approach to storytelling that resonates with trans narratives.
The article implies that the themes in these films are universally relevant, transcending specific communities and speaking to broader human truths.

The Trans Short Film Version Of Everything Everywhere All At Once

If you think Everything Everywhere All At Once deserves to win Best Picture, you need to see the 5-minute trans short film version

Additional graphics by Stephenie Magister, elements from Everything Everywhere All At Once (A24), The Matrix (Warner Bros), The Actress (SCAD)

You’ll Never Watch Everything, Everywhere, All At Once The Same Way Again

Welcome to TRANSlating Everything, a newsletter covering pop culture, news, politics, and the science of storytelling through the lens of a cool trans mom. You can support my work by leaving a tip or choosing a paid subscription to Translating Everything on Medium or Substack.

This weekend, I finally checked out a movie starring an acclaimed Asian actress who may finally get her due by leading audiences through an inter-dimensional rupture in which an unlikely hero must use the skills, wisdom, and insight from each multi-verse version of herself to return to her own dimension and finally accept her authentic self.

But enough about The Actress, the dimension-spanning short film starring trans actress Isobel Sandoval in which, well…see the above description.

BOOM GOES THE DYNAMITE!!!

Note: this article is an excerpt from the much longer “TRANSlating Everything Everywhere All At Once” on Substack

You’ll never watch Everything Everywhere All At Once the same way again

Let’s get this right out of the bag.

Everything Everywhere All At Once is bursting with connections to trans cinema.

I’m not making that up. In a variety of interviews, the directors said EEAO is “100% a response to The Matrix.” Like the Wachowski siblings’ later collaboration on the film adaptation of Cloud Atlas, their first movie about The One That Was Many stretched the existential limits of gender, orientation, and identity.

Then in 2022 came Everything Everywhere All At Once.

Graphic from “TRANScendent Connections Between The Matrix and Everything Everywhere All At Once”

“We wanted to make our version of [The Matrix],” Daniel Kwan said. “It was wild to be like oh, ‘We took so long that the Wachowskis beat us to it.’”

Well, I hate to break it to you guys, but…

An Asian filmmaker already beat you both to the punch.

The Actress: Isabel Sandoval

Moviegoing Memories: In Conversation with Isabel Sandoval |(MUBI), The Actress (SCAD)

Her name is Isabel Sandoval, a trans filmmaker and actress with skyrocketing acclaim across the awards circuits. With her starring role in The Actress (2021), she beat both the Wachowskis and the Daniels to reinventing The Matrix.

Directed by SCAD alum Andrew Ondrejcak, The Actress is a 5-minute short film that retells scenes from classic cinema if a trans woman had played the lead.

In the film, a woman moves through time and space, embodying classic Hollywood’s feminine ideals on a journey of self-discovery. As Sandoval’s character searches for her unique voice, she infiltrates cinematic history and shape-shifts through Hollywood’s most iconic roles.

Yet, when she realizes her sense of self has become obscured, she begins to cast off the glamorous façade, musing on the roles we each play as we reinvent our identities to discover our true selves.”

TRANSlated actors and movies in The Actress include:

Jane Wyman — All That Heaven Allows (1955)
Marlene Dietrich — Morocco (1930)
Isabella Rossellini — Blue Velvet (1986)
Jane Fonda — Barbarella (1968)
Malcolm McDowell — A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Jessica Chastain — The Tree of Life (2011)

TRANSlating the connections between The Actress and Everything Everywhere All At Once

Like Evelyn and her ironically-named daughter Joy in Everything Everywhere All At Once, Isabel’s character in The Actress discovers that expanding her sense of self into everything, everywhere, all at once was never going to turn her into all that she is not.

It would only ever clarify all that she already is. Some would say those limits and how we negotiate them are what truly define our identities.

It’s a truth that speaks to the lived experience of being trans or gender non-conforming, but also to what everyone, everywhere faces in all journeys to healing and wholeness.

Because if there are an infinite number of universes, there are an infinite number where we began in circumstances similar to everyone we hate. Everyone we despise for being lazy, cruel, insensitive, depressed, volatile, racist, sex-crazed, transphobic…

In another universe, the difficulty they face when trying to see us beyond their limits is the same difficulty they face when trying to accept their own authentic selves.

The multiverse shows us that we have at some point been those people.

The multiverse shows us that at some point, those people have been us.

In time, we’re broken apart into a million pieces or more, each one returning to the stars, to everything, to everywhere, all at once.

We don’t need to be perfect. Just like Neo, just like Isobel, just like Evelyn, the very things that make us imperfect are the things that make special.

There is no One. There is only The One we already are. Each one of us a statistical anomaly with a specialty that in our world might seem ordinary, but when translated to a world without sausage fingers…

The Daniels, elements from The Verge and Deadline

We could try to fight it.

Or we could finally embrace what happens when we put everything on a donut…

Graphic by Stephenie Magister, elements from “You’ll Never Watch The Simpsons The Same Way Again” and The Simpsons (20th Television Animation)

The Actress is currently streaming on MUBI

Everything Everywhere All At Once is currently streaming through Showtime or available for purchase on VOD

What to watch after The Actress and Everything Everywhere All At Once

1. Trans Movie Streaming Lists

| 5 Free Trans Movies Better Than Anything On Netflix | Trans Men: 7 Documentaries, 2 Movies, 1 Comedy Special, All Free | 10 Extremely Trans Xmas Streaming Selections | Now THAT’S Trans Xmas Music! Volume 1 | 13 More Free Streaming Trans Movies | Two Cool Trans Mini-Series On YouTube Better Than Anything On Netflix | 8 Foreign Films About Trans Women | 17 Incredibly Short Transgender Short Films |

2. Under the Banner of Heaven

Isabel Sandoval directed the penultimate episode of the true crime limited series Under The Banner of Heaven for Hulu, which put her next to our friendly neighborhood trans ally Andrew Garfield.

Andrew Garfield as trans protagonist in “We Exist” music video for Arcade Fire (Sony Pictures, Sony Music)

Garfield said in an interview, “[Isabel Sandoval] was so precise, so sensitive, so professional, so talented, and astute, and I really, really enjoyed her as a director.” As reported by CNN Philippines, her episode earned the praise “10/10 beautiful trans girl multi hyphenate excellence” from a Letterboxd user, which the director tweeted next to Andrew Garfield’s quote.

3. Shangri-La

Isabel also wrote and directed the short film Shangri-La, the 21st commission from Miu Miu Womens Tales. Her earlier film Lingua Franca — featured in “8 Foreign Films About Trans Women” at Prism & Pen and distributed by Ava DuVernay’s ARRAY — was the first Filipino film in main competition at BFI London in its 63-year history.

4. Michelle Yeoh Kicks Ass

About Stephenie Magister

If you like my work and want to support it, buy me a cup of coffee! For more of my content, subscribe to my Substack newsletter: Translating Everything