CM McCambridge
Louise Weard’s film Castration Movie Anthology ii: The Best of Both Worlds is, in a word, brutal.
When we meet Circle (Alex Walton), we find her questioning whether or not she wants to leave the safety and affection of the cult she’s found herself in for the unpredictability of the outside world. It’s made clear very early on that Circle doesn’t seem to quite buy into everything, struggling with the group yoga and simple meals of a single plain hot dog. While questioning all of this, she also finds herself questioning her gender and whether or not she’ll continue to pursue her transition. All of this comes to a head once Circle manages to finally take a step outside the cult, on what was initially a recruitment trip.
From its very first scene, Best of Both Worlds places the viewer into a world nearly identical to our own, only more intense. From the cult of Bushwick trans women having a ketamine-fueled sex party to the almost absurdly frank openness of the characters outside of it, Weard creates a world in which truly anything can happen.
Above all else, Best of Both Worlds is a horror of empathy. Constantly, Circle is put into situations utterly outside of her control, where she is berated, belittled, or simply made to feel uncomfortable. It cannot be overstated just how uncomfortable this film can be to watch at times, something exasperated by its mind-numbing five-hour runtime. However, while watching the film may leave an audience exhausted, the masterfully-paced gradual escalation and glimmers of hope never let you become truly numb to what you’re witnessing. If the darker parts were non-stop, it would almost be easier.
While Castration Movie Anthology ii does have slower moments, at no point does the film truly let you get your footing. There are no long, drawn-out explanations to the esoteric actions of the cult members, no slow introductions to characters who reveal themselves gradually. Even the cinematography, completed by a trio of camera operators, is seemingly all done handheld, making the very world itself feel as unstable as Circle does.
The further that Circle seems to stray from the basement housing the cult, the more the world makes sense. No more binders’ worth of printed 4chan posts to be read. No more bizarre de-escalation techniques. No more living with buckets of food, hormones, and water. It’s just simple people living their own relatively normal lives. While the cult may be familiar to her by this point, there’s a clear and intentional culture shock in how it’s presented to the viewer. To us, the outside world is safer and more familiar, but even then, we can see how those in it fail to affirm Circle, often doing the exact opposite.
Louise Weard’s keen eye for the uncomfortable is clear throughout Best of Both Worlds, with a truly disorienting party scene splitting the frame between Circle and Keller (Ivy Wolk). While the layout may seem simple, the audio mixing and constant camera movements force the viewer to really focus on one or the other: Circle alone in the corner, or Keller talking in a group. One of these is clearly more interesting, and in ignoring Circle, the audience takes the place of the people at the party, ignoring her for something more interesting. When the two do meet, they’re misaligned by the camera initially, only slowly coming together into the frame properly as they begin to form a bond.
While the outside world may be more familiar to us, it’s not without its challenges. Unlike the safety and clear validation within the cult, multiple people Circle meets begin to encourage her to detransition. Keller, being a detransitioner herself, repeatedly encourages Circle to be a boy, even mimicking a scene from the first film by asking two strangers if they think Circle is a boy or a girl, before fishing for the answer she wants out of them.
Much like the first film in the anthology, Castration Movie Anthology ii: Best of Both Worlds is filled to the brim with outstanding performances. Even beyond Alex Walton’s incredible performance as Circle, which has to be seen to be believed, the film has standouts such as Ivy Wolk’s Keller and Hazel Norwood’s Meredith. While every actor manages to find a moment to shine, truly not enough can be said about Wolk and Norwood, particularly as the film wraps up its second act. When Circle and Meredith reunite outside of the cult, there’s such a palpable tension that it goes beyond the script, seemingly channeling something much deeper, and that every trans woman knows.
If nothing else, Louise Weard has shown in this anthology that she has nerve. To paint such a bleak portrait of one’s own community, showing some of the worst parts of it, and then to show that the way out can be equally bleak and unloving, truly takes a capacity for blunt honesty. Much like the first installment, Weard shows parts of transness that aren’t often explored by other directors. With part iii on the way, it’s only a matter of time before Weard puts more solid truths on screen.
