Brooklyn Film Festival Review: Gossamer Folds

One of the most talked about films having its premiere at this year's festival is Gossamer Folds. A coming of age film based in 1986 with a nod to topics discussed today in 2021. The movie is about a nine year old boy named Tate who develops a friendship with a retired professor and his transgender daughter, Gossamer. Kansas City is the perfect backdrop for this drama as the small town feel mixed with big city problems. The movie start off as Tate and his parents move into the neighborhood and see their neighbors and everything seem okay until the father realizes something's not right. Once the father realizes that a transgender woman lives next door he forbids Tate from talking or going over there. That's when everything goes left as Tate's parents constantly eventually leading to separation later in the movie to the mom losing her job. These events leads Tate to find solace next door with Gossamer and her father. That's where things get interesting as Gossamer and her father helps Tate and his mother as his father leaves and becomes a second family. While not getting too deep and giving away the plot of the movie let's just say when the father gets back home it gets heated.

The character development in this film is easy to follow and the story may be generic but the dialogue keeps it fresh. I just wish there was more about Gossamer's past that what was shown through the film. At 97 minutes there's so much drama could be packed in and some ways you wish the story could extend into what happens when Gossamer leaves her father and Tate or learned how Tate truly feel about his father's treatment of Gossamer. So many unanswered questions but again maybe it's best to play the what if at the end of the movie. Gossamer Folds is a good film and have a great message but sometimes the message gets lost in translation,