3 Generations Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.0

3 Generations Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 12, 2017

In what might be seen by some as good news for the LGBTQ community, transgender issues have been fairly consistently making their way to the forefront of public consciousness, at least enough that several properties have featured either characters or whole storylines built around those who aren’t (to utilize a current phrase of art) cisgendered. Amazon Studios created a bit of sensation and gave Jeffrey Tambor one of his most distinctive roles in Transparent. Older films like Boys Don't Cry and The Crying Game at least hinted at gender identity issues if not dealing exclusively in what might be termed transgender subject lines. Several at least somewhat lesser known entries like Transamerica, All About My Mother and In a Year with 13 Moons all either featured transgender characters or touched on plot points that included transgender issues. Just recently, I reviewed The Assignment, one of the smarmier films to touch on transgender content, though in this case in an outrageous and potentially offensive way, with a hitman being forced to undergo surgery to become a woman, in what is truly one of the more jaw dropping concepts in the long and at times bizarre career of writer-director Walter Hill. 3 Generations evidently began life first under the slightly different title Three Generations and then under the completely different title About Ray, which is perhaps a better indication of what this film wants to be about, even if that goal is perhaps frittered away with sidebars dealing with a group of folks related to its focal character, a teenager born Ramona (Elle Fanning), who now goes by the name of Ray and is desirous of undergoing a sex change operation, something that leads to various tensions with both her mother Maggie (Naomi Watts) and grandmother Dolly (Susan Sarandon). A starry cast does what they can with writing that does manage to hit some emotional targets but which also seems content to reside in a pretty soap operatic ambience that ultimately segues a bit too comfortably into something approaching happily ever after land.

There was evidently some behind the scenes drama at work in the production of the film, as evidenced not just by the title change but the fact that 3 Generations was evidently finished in 2015 and was screened that year at the Toronto International Film Festival. In 2016 co-writer and director Gaby Dellal reportedly went back to the editing drawing board and also jiggered with some of the creative staff helping to complete (re- complete?) the film. That tweaking may account in part for the fact that while 3 Generations opens with and occasionally returns to Ray narrating events, something that inherently casts a “first person” feeling, large swaths of the film are given over to what might be termed the cinematic equivalent of an omniscient narrator, with whole scenes playing out with Ray either absent or at least in no position to know what’s going on between certain characters.

The crux of the story hinges on the need for Ray to receive parental consent to his sex reassignment treatment, which of course includes surgery. Maggie is at least haltingly supportive of her child, while Dolly, who is a lesbian and lives with partner Frances (Linda Emond), wonders, in one of the film’s better written moments, why Ray can’t just be a lesbian like she is. When Dolly goes on a rant about living an “authentic” life, Maggie and Ray instantly respond that that’s exactly what Ray is attempting to do, which at least momentarily quiets grandma down. But the film isn’t content to let these conflicts resolve, instead having them rear their heads, ugly or otherwise, recurrently, albeit for slightly different reasons.

More substantial soap operatic content intrudes when Maggie has to reunite with Ray’s missing father, Craig (Tate Donovan). That reunion brings a host of frankly needless interchanges, supposed “character” beats that are overheated and undercooked at the same time. The whole detour into “who’s your Daddy” becomes even more convoluted when a late reveal involving Craig’s brother Matthew (Sam Trammell) throws a whole new wrinkle into the works (let’s just say that the film starts trafficking in something perilously close to My Two Dads territory).

Buried beneath all of the unnecessary posturing and slightly hyperbolic dramatics is a really worthwhile premise, and 3 Generations is also graced with winning performances by the entire cast. But Dellal and co-writer Nikole Beckwith fritter away the potential with too many sidebars, though even some of those are at least passingly interesting (a brief allusion to Dolly’s history with various jazz luminaries is a case in point). While it’s commendable that Dellal wants to offer a resolution that suggests that despite manifest differences, family can come together to support a member in need, it may strike some as false feeling, especially given the strife that has gone before.

3 Generations Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

3 Generations is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Starz / Anchor Bay and Weinstein Home Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. This is a generally sharp and pleasing looking transfer, though the palette is really kind of pallid throughout, even in some outdoor scenes that never really pop with any vivid hues. Fine detail is still quite commendable throughout, offering good, precise looks at elements like the ribbing on Ray's knit hat, or the fluffiness of a big plush coat Maggie wears in some sequences. I'm not quite sure of some the stylistic flourishes director Gaby Dellal and/or cinematographer David Johnson employ, with a number of kind of weird framings (including a lot of overhead shots), but when the film settles into more traditional presentations, and especially when any of numerous extreme close-ups are employed, fine detail levels are typically excellent. That said, contrast is a little anemic for my tastes, and the entire presentation looks a tad bright to my eyes.

3 Generations Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

3 Generations features a generally immersive DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that derives intermittent surround activity courtesy of the urban setting. There are some nicely done moments with Ray on his skateboard that offer well placed effects, and other scenes featuring some boisterous source cues also help the sonics to at least occasionally erupt into something relatively forceful. The bulk of the film, though, is made up of more intimate dialogue scenes, or even the moments that feature Ray's narration, and those are understandably less showy, though fidelity remains fine throughout.

3 Generations Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Deleted and Extended Scenes (1080p; 6:11)

3 Generations Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

In a way, the whole transgender element of 3 Generations isn't even really that germane to what's actually going on in the film, which is a series of dysfunctions between, yes, three generations of the same family. As odd and maybe even as counterintuitive as it may sound, the film may have had more impact had it not pursued this unavoidably provocative subject, especially since all the angst surrounding it kind of just gets pushed aside for a feel good denouement that doesn't feel as (to quote Dolly) authentic as some of the rest of the film. What saves 3 Generations (or at least saved it for me) is the uniformly fine performances, all of which ring true even when events and even dialogue don't. Technical merits are generally strong for those considering a purchase.