Movies

‘See You Then’ untangles the nuances of being a transwoman | SXSW review

Kris (Pooya Mohseni) and Naomi (Lynn Chen) continue their journey through the night in See You Then. | Credit: Jordan T. Parrott

See You Then follows two college exes, one of whom has come out as a transwoman, who reunite more than a decade after a contentious split

See You Then explores and challenges the nuances of being a woman and being a transwoman through a deeply satisfying conversation between two exes — masterfully portrayed by Pooya Mohseni and Lynn Chen.

What is most remarkable about See You Then, which premiered in the narrative spotlight section of the 2021 Online SXSW Film Festival, is how unremarkable it treats its story of two old college friends catching up after a sudden breakup. And it is remarkable because the main impetus of the story is Kris (Pooya Mohseni) coming out as trans and catching up with her ex-girlfriend Naomi (Lynn Chen) after a decade of silence.

Instead of adding over-the-top dramatics or watershed emotional grandstands, writer/director Mari Walker allows the conversation, which takes place over one night on their old college campus, to unfold organically. Truly, just two people whose lives intersected for a moment in time untangling their pasts and how it's affected their present.

As we learn in the first strained minutes of their reunion, Kris and Naomi once dated in college before Kris was out as a transwoman. However, just as she started to discover those feelings she left without notice leaving Naomi devastated. Now, thirteen years later, Kris has returned to make amends and explain her disappearance.

It's a slow burn as the women's experiences over the past decade come into focus — Kris transitioned and is living in Arizona and Naomi is married with two kids having given up her art career to become a professor. However, both of their lives are filled with regrets. Kris deals with the goon of time stealing away the time she could have had as her real self while also dealing with the limitations of being a transwoman, in particular those around love. Naomi, on the other hand, struggles with the stability that married life and motherhood present. Both experiences feel lived in and real.

However, the restrained direction eventually gives way to a powerhouse final scene where Walker uses every tool available to her to deliver an emotional gut-punch that leaves you stunned. The mix of visuals, sound, and two massively impressive performances by Mohseni and Chen catapult us into a neat, but profound end that is worth the trip for.

Perhaps See You Then will be a film that cispeople will watch and begin to understand the nuances of being trans. “My life didn't even begin until 14 years ago,” Kris says in one scene. The film explains that while there is something to gain from the trauma of being trans and transitioning, it's not as empowering as people think it is. Our society doesn't let it. See You Then gives us a moment to meditate on that.

? Hey, I'm Karl! Thanks for reading. Follow me on Twitter and Letterboxd. I'm also a Tomatometer-approved film critic.

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Karl Delossantos

Hey, I'm Karl, founder and film critic at Smash Cut. I started Smash Cut in 2014 to share my love of movies and give a perspective I haven't yet seen represented. I'm also an editor at The New York Times, a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, and a member of the Online Film Critics Society.