New to Amazon Prime Video from today is the LGBTQ+ romantic coming-of-age drama, Anything’s Possible. The movie – directed by Billy Porter – stars Eva Reign and Abubakr Ali, and follows the story of two high school teens, who enter into a romantic relationship just as they are preparing to leave school.
In the movie, Kelsa and Khalid are students living in Pittsburgh. They are both in their final year at school, and are now beginning to think about their futures.
Kelsa is a trans girl, who has a YouTube channel where she talks openly about her transition, as well as her interest in animals. Meanwhile, Khalid is a Muslim guy who spends a great deal of his free-time reading threads on Reddit, to get a better understanding of people and their individual problems.
After spending time together in art class, Khalid begins to develop a crush on Kelsa. He soon makes his feelings clear, and the pair begin dating.
But things don’t run smoothly, and the couple encounter a number of obstacles at school and at home. Can they overcome these challenges and remain on track, or are their lives heading in different directions?
I want to tell you that I really liked Anything’s Possible, because it serves up a story which discusses an LGBTQ+ relationship in a positive light. However, while this is true, and the story does indeed offer up a central relationship which has far more positives than negatives, I am unable to say I really liked this film.
My issue is of course not with the premise, but with the execution of the film. Anything’s Possible is a very bland picture, which fails to offer up any excitement, and I spent the majority of this movie bored out of my mind.
And when I say bored, I mean really bored. I had to stop myself from picking up my phone, from wandering off to do the dishes, or from just switching the whole thing off after 30 minutes.
Anything’s Possible has no zip, no zing, and no flair. I make a point of watching a film all the way through, to ensure a fair and balanced review (how can you review a movie otherwise?), but if I was streaming this purely for my own entertainment, and not to discuss on this blog, I would never have made it to the end.
It’s a shame the movie is as dull as it is, because the story in Anything’s Possible brings up some interesting discussions, about navigating a relationship within a modern, high school environment. It looks at gender, at people, romance, friendships, and everything in between, and all of these topics provide the opportunity for potential narrative gold.
At the centre of the movie is a trans girl who doesn’t want gender to define who she is, and this gives the film the chance to open up an important line of dialogue. This dialogue taps into wider conversations which are taking place in the real world at present, and there are some very interesting points which should be shared with a large audience.
But watching Anything’s Possible is a chore. Yes, the messages are strong and the discussions are worth hearing, but this film is akin to sitting in front of a power point presentation.
The information that is being presented is worth seeing and listening to, but it is all very dry and featureless. This film needs atmosphere and life, and that’s not what’s on screen.
Had the director found a way to transform the material into something entertaining, imaginative, or energetic, then this would be an entirely different piece. But as it stands, there’s not much I can recommend about Anything’s Possible.
The cast are fine, so I do feel this is worth flagging up, and the general conversation is important, so this needs to be highlighted once more, but beyond this, I’m struggling to find anything else to say. Ultimately, Anything’s Possible is a huge misfire.
The people who need to see this film, to better understand transgender issues, are unlikely to stick with it, because it is slow and uninspiring. Meanwhile, those who do see it through to the end, are more likely to be people from within the LGBTQ+ community, who are already aware of some of the talking points so it won’t have much of an impact.
Well done if you start the film AND then you finish it, but believe me, you won’t be rewarded for doing so. It is boring.
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