Cowboys: Tender Drama About Trans Kid Checks Boxes But Misses Wider Mark

By Thom Ernst

Rating: B

There is plenty to like about director Anna Kerrigan's film Cowboys. Its (near) family-friendly pitch on transgender issues is refreshing. Its uncluttered presentation is disarmingly frank. Its stars — Sasha Knight, Steve Zahn, Ann Dowd, Jillian Bell, and Gary Farmer — are genuine and the characters they play, even the ones who don't behave as we hope, are likable.

And the way Cowboys bucks a traditional image of the rural west by refusing to play to the expectation is impressive.

The title tips us off that Cowboys is a western. Still, it's a modern-day western in the same vein that Brokeback Mountain is a modern-day western. Both films challenge preconceived concepts of masculinity and identity and are set in contemporary times.

Cowboys is the story of Troy (Zahn, read our interview with the star), a father unable to convince his estranged wife that their transgender child should be free to identify as male. When the mother persists in her denial, he takes the boy, and together they ride off to Canada.

Troy is already on the police radar, having served time for assault. But jail time is not Troy's most pressing issue, and Sally knows it. As the film unfolds, Troy's problem becomes more apparent, and before long, the story is no longer about identity and acceptance but instinct and survival.

Knight plays Joe, the transgender youth. Knight presents a suitably awkward stance as a boy in a girl's body. But although his uneasiness might be in keeping with his character, it makes for a less convincing visual. I get the desire for audiences to recognize his discomfort, but when paraded out in a summer dress and barrette in his hair, Joe simply looks like a boy in drag.

All actors turn in strong performances from Farmer's Robert Spottedbird's tested patience to Dowd's Faith, the beleaguered detective hot on Troy's trail.

But this is Zahn's film. Zahn plays Troy as one of those charismatic rapscallions, completely unreliable but impossible to resist. Bell is Joe's mother, Sally. Sally's unwillingness to accept Joe's identity is problematic but doesn't affect her affection and love.

PROUDLY SUPPORTS ORIGINAL-CIN

Sally believes Joe is acting on an impulse that the world is a better place for men. In a moment of relatable frustration, Sally lists how Troy is free to be reckless and carefree while she is left to clean toilets and cook meals. "Of course, she wants to be a boy," she says. But not all moments in the film hit the same tone of complexity. Kerrigan's care and gentleness, even kindness, to the story and her characters robs the movie of any poignancy.

Cowboys is a well-told story, but one that breezes through its characters' struggles and pitfalls. It almost self-consciously plays against type and expectations. The ease in which Joe comes out to Troy and Troy's ready acceptance contradicts the assumption that rural America would be a tough place for trans youth to find a home.

I don't know if stats substantiate an assumption that men are less accepting than women, but the twist in the story is that the father accepts the transition, and it's the mother who's reluctant. It's an interesting variant that calls to question whether the story would be different if the boy transitioned into a girl.

But the question is not whether it is harder to transition from boy to girl than from girl to boy; I imagine both come with equal weight. The problem is whether Kerrigan's version is a more comfortable narrative for audiences to digest. And if so, why are we being left off the hook?

For all its graciousness and charm, Cowboys falls short of delivering the strength and significance that a story about youth and gender identity requires. That's too bad because the story is both timely and essential.

Click HERE to read Bonnie Laufer's Q&A with Cowboys’ Steve Zahn.

Cowboys. Directed by Anna Kerrigan. Starring Sasha Knight, Steve Zahn, Ann Dowd, Jillian Bell, and Gary Farmer. Available on VOD beginning February 12.