‘Mutt’ (2023) Review: A Tender Portrayal of Survival
This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labour of the writers and actors currently on strike, the movie being covered here wouldn’t exist.
In the span of 24 hours, a young trans man encounters three people from his past. While navigating a difficult day after sleeping with his ex-boyfriend, his half-sister showing up at his workplace, and picking up his estranged father from the airport, a lot can happen. Drawing from the life of writer and director Vuk Lungulov-Klotz, a Chilean and Serbian and his experience with transitioning, Mutt is a tender portrayal of survival, honesty, and vulnerable moments.
Over a year after their nasty breakup, Feña (Lío Mehiel) spots his straight ex-boyfriend, John (Cole Doman), on a night out with friends. They were in a relationship before Feña’s transition. After the awkwardness disperses, John and Feña walk around New York City reminiscing over their relationship. They love and admire each other still exist on the surface. They end up making up in a laundromat and later in Feña’s bed. John awkwardly bids farewell to Feña and returns home. Feña stops at the restaurant to pick up a check only to find out his half-sister, Zoe (MiMi Ryder), is looking for him. She skipped school, but Feña worries that their shared mother might think he kidnapped her. Also, Feña is asking a friend to borrow their car to pick up his father, Pablo (Alejandro Goic), at the airport. But when his past, present and future coincide together chronically at the same time on the day, Feña becomes overwhelmed by these challenges while dealing with the feelings of the ghosts from his life.
Mutt presents the audience with three unresolved conflicts for Feña to tackle. First, his very straight ex-boyfriend, John, is upset over the breakup and Feña’s transition. Second, Zoe runs to Feña for help after experiencing her first period and skips school to follow him as he finishes tasks and causes a bit of havoc to his life, and lastly, Pablo’s complicated feelings over Feña’s transition.
It’s a movie of conversations between Feña and his estranged ghosts from the different stages of his life. Most of the time, he has no problems being misidentified as a trans man. It’s impossible to escape people’s ignorance and rude questions. In an earlier scene, a woman at the nightclub asks him an inappropriate question. Feña reminds her that she shouldn’t ask those questions because it doesn’t mean he isn’t a “real man.” Feña doesn’t explain the problem in the question further.
In another instance, a bank teller refuses to cash the paycheck under his dead name. Frustrated and annoyed, Feña doesn’t mull over it and leaves. He doesn’t have the time to explain this part of his life to strangers. He’s visibly exhausted. Later that day, Feña deals with Pablo’s feelings over the little girl he once knew and regrets not being present in his life for a long time. Pablo doesn’t understand Feña’s transition and believes it to be a phase. It frustrates Feña that he has to justify himself to everyone around him.
The conversations surrounding Feña’s transition revolve not around the protagonist but the supporting characters — or the ghosts from past, present, and future — who keep centering their frustrations. At times, Feña has to navigate his feelings around these people; regardless, he voices his concerns to them. Lungulov-Klotz shows that society dead-names and misgenders Feña, except for his close queer friends and housemates. He is never portrayed as a weak character, especially a victim.
Lungulov-Klotz observes Feña’s relationship with John. He is the only character that has repeated appearances, and the one that causes the most rift with Feña. There are some unresolved conflicts and unhappiness between them. The truth of John and Feña’s breakup is not something they can deal with, even after he can find happiness post-transition. Mutt shows complicated and lighthearted moments in their relationship with tenderness and care. It also explores what culminated in their breakup in a heartbreaking scene between them. Mehiel and Doman are an incredible duo on screen. Mehiel’s performance is grounded. It’s hard not to keep our eyes away from them.
Mutt is a gentle observation of loneliness. It shows what people can do to be kinder to others and empathise with the characters. In a movie with a heightened plot and painful memories, Lungulov-Klotz never reduces his characters to a stereotype. He shows them in youthful and heartbreaking situations by signifying their connections through reconciliation. Mutt delivers the struggles of a young trans man on screen with authenticity.
Strike Funds: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1weorhmG1H7cszY3rGHCpNYsgleegkuOSH7rD47JzSAQ/edit
Solidarity with striking film and television workers: https://freelancesolidarity.org/wga-sag-strike-solidarity/
