MQFF NOTES: Pulse (2016, Dir. Stevie Cruz-Martin)

High school kid living with disability undergoes experimental body transplant to make his life a little easier. Opts to take on a woman's body just to make her life a little harder (and to give her a crack at her best friend, who he was crushing on).

Stevie Cruz-Martin's Pulse, written by and starring Daniel Monks as Olly, deserves copious praise for audacity. As with the best sci-fi, they mark out a formidable conceptual playing field and some relatively firm rules by which to play - finding a rigid language in the fluidity of sexuality and gender. It's impressive in that their take on either remains evasive without their approach causing exceptional frustration. Instead, it adds to their capricious (and impressively diverse) expression of teenage identity.

Much of this can be explained through the film's committed world building. It never seeks to explain so the audience shouldn't crave explanation. Body swaps are possible. The procedure is physically undemanding. The results are seamless. The fallout is the thing. Why? Is not the question to ask of Olly, and it is not a question that any of his friends ask with particular rigour. Instead, the focus on what, on the consequences of Olly's choices become compelling, at least in their portrayal by Monks, and his immediate friendship group, best friend Luke (Scott Lee), best friend's girlfriend, Nat (Sian Ewers) and best friend's girlfriend's girlfriend, Britney (Isaro Kayitesi) - who becomes an impressively forthright confidante.

The friends' dynamic, and the emotionally co-dependent relationship between Olly and his mother, Jacqui (Caroline Brazier), ease Pulse through some awkward scripting and even alleviate some of the narrative's underdeveloped approach to issue resolution (quite a few conflicts conveniently evaporate). When the field is so wide and the players so inclusive, it is difficult not to get a little lost.

Ultimately, it is Pulse's thematic messiness (paired with its comparatively professional visual style) that is its saving grace. Cruz-Martin and Monks relate the discomfort of living with a disability, physically, emotionally and sexually. They'll tread on toes whilst doing so - the concept of "gay", of "trans*", of "masculinity/femininity", all get up-ended in the course of the film. Ideologically, much is left hanging but it'll leave viewers questioning things that they may not have considered before going in.

★★★☆

Trailer:

Pulse screened as part of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival 2017. 

You can check out other films from the festival here.