‘Monica’ Review: Andrea Pallaoro Finds a Fresh Angle on the Trans Experience
Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic Over the course of three quietly devastating features, Italian-born, America-based art-house director Andrea Pallaoro (“Medeas,” “Hannah”) has shown just how inadequate words can be when it comes to expressing some of life’s most complicated emotions.
In his latest, “Monica,” Pallaoro takes on the near-universal craving for parent-child connection, knowing full well that his two lead characters — a Midwestern trans woman and the uncomprehending mom who rejected her — won’t be able to say what one another most needs to hear.
But that doesn’t mean they can’t reach some kind of unspoken understanding, recognizable to those with experience reading between the lines.
More than a decade has passed since Monica (Trace Lysette) last saw her mother, Eugenia (Patricia Clarkson). Meanwhile, one could argue that her mother never saw her — not really.
