“I don’t know how I raised three people who cannot see beyond themselves,” Jeffrey Tambor’s character says to a support group.
Maura’s disappointed as much with her self-centred, troubled adult children as herself. She tried to come out to them the night before, but wasn’t able to.
Writer and director Jill Soloway’s fantastic new pilot, Transparent, looks at the lives of Maura, a middle-aged, freshly out transwoman, and her three children in LA. Soloway’s dry, quick-fire dialogue is set off by slow, quiet moments and beautiful cinematography, and the pilot also has one of the hottest seductions I’ve ever seen, between Sarah (Amy Landecker) and her closest friend from college days.
According to Original Plumbing writer Diana Tourjee, Soloway brought together a “team of transgender consultants,” including filmmaker Rhys Ernst, author Jennifer Finney Boylan and artist Zackary Drucker. Tourjee expertly details the way Soloway is taking pains to make the realistic representation of a transwoman integral to the show, writing that the show “sets a precedent, a new project from a filmmaker who evidently prioritizes accurate trans representation in her work, getting trans people involved behind the scenes in production, and on screen in an honest and intimate narrative.”
The pilot is available to watch on Amazon’s original series streaming feature, as part of a trial for anyone with an Amazon account. According to the site, “You help decide which shows become series.” If so, Transparent’s superb writing, acting and crew are definitely worth watching out for!
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