DIRECTOR: STEVIE CRUZ-MARTIN / SCREENPLAY: DANIEL MONKS / STARRING: DANIEL MONKS, JAMIEE PEASLEY, SCOTT LEE, SIAN EWERS / RELEASE DATE: JUNE 2ND (VOD)
Having done the festival circuit, Australian indie Pulse now receives a wider release on streaming services. Writer Daniel Monks stars as Olly, a high schooler with a disability that will leave him unable to walk unless he has his hip replaced. But that’s not a major enough procedure for Olly, who signs up for an experimental new surgery that places his mind inside a completely new body – and he decides that body should be female. Olly becomes Olivia and, now both able-bodied and attractive to guys, embraces the party girl lifestyle rather too hard.
Monks’ script and Stevie Cruz-Martin’s direction bring a down-to-earth style to Pulse, with dialogue conversational and playful; combined with some strong performances, this gives the film a believability that makes it possible to overlook the casualness of body swapping being a thing (and no one ever asking where the bodies come from). The film rattles along at a fast pace, with colourful cinematography and fast editing giving the various nightlife-set sequences a pulsating energy, and there are plenty of well-observed details to Olivia’s exploration of life as a woman, including a thoroughly awkward sex scene and the disparaging looks she’s given when returning from a one-night stand on public transport.
But it becomes increasingly clear that the filmmakers don’t have a handle on their story or what they’re trying to say with it. If you’re expecting, from the plot summary, this to be a sci-fi allegory for transgender issues, then you’ll end up disappointed, as Olly/Olivia’s journey has little parallel with real life trans experiences. In fact, the film works to reinforce untrue and negative stereotypes often weaponised against trans people by portraying the character as a man in a woman’s body, out to deceive people for sex, rather than actually as a woman – Olly continues to identify using male pronouns, continues to be portrayed by the male actor during more introspective moments, and it turns out that the female body was chosen as a ploy to get laid.
What exacerbates these problems is the fact that Olly/Olivia is one of the most irritatingly obnoxious characters you could imagine, often for little discernible reason. At the beginning, his attitude makes for some effective conflicts, and you hold onto hope that Pulse might find something profound to say about why he acts like this, but as he only gets nastier, it’s easy to lose sympathy with the character and patience with the film.
It’s a massive shame, as Pulse’s intriguing concept and neat indie style are squandered by the script losing control of its character and – perhaps inadvertently – putting across some nasty messages. We struggle to recommend you check this one out, but there may be better things to come from the director.
