Huckleberry; from writer/director Roger Hill follows our titular transgender character (Daniel Fisher-Golden); who is navigating high-school life in a small rural town. He experiences discrimination and ‘Dead-naming’ from various authority figures in the community; which is a very timely issue to show on screen (and is currently often discussed in the media). This, however is not the film’s main thrust but more serves as a cultural backdrop to a ‘Romeo & Juliet’ style love story; as Huckleberry vies for the affections of Jolene (Sarah Ulstrop). She, in turn is trying to walk away from an abusive relationship with ‘Jock’ boyfriend Clint (Justin Rose). This is an interesting reversal of stereotypes and also a classic tale of teenage angst and the struggles of young people in small rural communities.

Interestingly, the film-makers have chosen to set the film specifically in 1999-2000 as shown with various technological developments that were affecting young people at the time; for example CD’s are just starting their decline and we still see video tapes being used.

The cinematography and setting is suitably bleak and perfectly reflects life for young people in a small rural community. A bold and contrasting score from Fabio Capelli/Tyler Wenzel perfectly reflects the ‘teenage angst’ of our main protagonists. The pacing does drift off at times however and i could have easily seen this at around an Hour runtime rather than the current 80mins.

4/5 – Perfectly captures the lives of young people in a small rural community as well as addressing wider issues.

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