The only thing more powerful than a first impression is a second one — at least, that’s the bet that “ Summer Solstice ,” a new anti-romantic comedy from Cartilage Films , makes on itself. Beginning with a character giving an impassioned monologue recounting his gender-affirming surgery, the speech quickly curdles into something pretty tacky, even including the line, “I went from a caterpillar to a butterfly.” But then another voice interrupts: “Okay, thanks.
That’s enough.” This has all been in an audition room. And the audition is not going well.
“I had a family member come to a screening. And she said, ‘I was terrified in the first 30 seconds that this movie was going to be so awful,’” says writer-director Noah Schamus with a laugh. The scene reorients to introduce Leo (Bobbi Salvör Menuez), a transgender man treading water in the ever-replenishing pool of auditioning New York actors.
The performance drops and Leo returns to reality, as the interviewer asks a thoughtless question that further underlines the generic sentiments of the monologue: “The casting call is for a transgender male or transgender female. Just for our records, which one are you?” “That was pulled from a couple of my friends who are actors who have had to answer that question while auditioning. Which is a bummer,” says Schamus, who identifies as trans-nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns.
“So many roles iterate on certain tropes of transness on film. I wanted to ge.