The boy who would be Queen

When one does not read the press notes we professional film analysts are provided, and comes to a film with no prior knowledge of its pedigree, even its genre, interesting things happen. Told from a documentarian’s point of view, The Amazing Truth About Queen Raquela chronicles several months in the life of a young Filipina transsexual prostitute, Raquela Rios, who dreams of marrying a western, heterosexual man, and being taken away from her life of quiet despair. It’s funny, wry, edgy and occasionally insightful—but it’s not a documentary, which this film analyst did not know until the credits—which, ones supposes, makes it very effective. As it happens, it’s also pretty darn good. Which won’t mean much at the domestic box office, because it’s also pretty niche. Still … it got me.

Ladyboys, as they are often called in the Philippines, work as prostitutes on the streets of Cebu City, and almost uniformly harbor the previously mentioned dream. Raquela finds herself stood-up at the airport waiting for her prince charming on more than one occasion, and it seems to sincerely break her heart, every time. In several Real World-style confessionals, she confides her deepest feelings and desires; these moments, along with everything Raquela does, resonates as utterly unaffected, because they are. Raquela is Raquela, she is not an actress, per se, which is true of all of the other ladyboys who appear in the film, including Valerie (Valerie Grand Einarsson), the only transsexual in Iceland, whom Raquela befriends via the internet. When Raquela meets internet pimp (yep) Michael (Stefan C. Schaefer), she falls into business as a host, and he whisks her off to Paris. Michael is also captured doc style, and proves to be crass, mean and manipulative in expected pimp style. Schaefer proves to be a great actor. I bought every moment of it.

The ultimate question posed in The Amazing Truth About Queen Raquela is, can a nice transsexual Filipina ladyboy find her princess charming and live happily ever after—even if she does have a penis?

You’ll have to watch the film to find out, but remember, it’s mostly make-believe.

Distributor: Regent
Cast: Raquela Rios, Stefan C. Schaefer, Olivia Galudo, Brax Villa and Valerie Grand Einarsson
Director: Olaf de Fleur Johannesson
Screenwriters: Benedikt Jóhannesson and Olaf de Fleur Johannesson
Producers: Arleen Cuevas, Stefan C. Schaefer and Helgi Sverrisson
Genre: Drama
Rating: R for sexual content, language and some nudity
Running time: 80 min .
Release date: Sept 26 NY/LA