Milly is annoyed whenever her mom tells her to behave more appropriate for a girl. She's just not interested in fancy dresses or prom dances. Some day her best friend's little brother offers her a potion which can make her deepest wish come true during a solar eclipse. She goes through with it and ends up with male genitals, additionally. So she has to decide if she wants to live as a boy or a girl. Her father, who always wanted a son, supports her in checking out life as a boy. Hence Milly changes school and starts out as Willy.
Willy/Milly is showing in 1 cinema in New York City - next screening Saturday 24 October at 15:30 at Metrograph.
Next screenings: Saturday 24 October.
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Kinda fascinating to see an 80s teen movie that openly flirts with gender and sexual fluidity, even if it does (predictably) reject both in one fell swoop. Still -- there's plenty of juicy subtext to be mined from Pamela Adlon's dual role as the nerdy Milly and the butch Willy. I didn't know that masculinity just meant hitting a punching bag over and over again and learning how to say "Shit!" with the right cadence?
I've been into it with reds on the Instagram complaining about woke programing. It's typically middle-aged men that are talking shit about the skin color of fantasy characters that I enjoy digging into. I find their arguments petty - what does it really matter what the skin color of characters is in fantasy media? This new term 'woke' came about in 2017, according to the internet, as an alert to racial content. It's been broadened to now also be an alert to homosexual and pro-feminism content since, and is even now being used as a slang insult to anyone promoting the social platform of the left. My giant argument to those reds like that jiggling cephalapoid DeSantis that throw this term around like it's some new evil thing that's corrupting our society's youth is that it is absolutely nothing new to either cinema or the silver screen at all. I've never in my life seen a film that better encapsulates gender fluidity than this 80's comedy about a girl who wishes for boy parts and gets them. We've had 'woke' programing for almost as long as there's been programming. With minor exceptions in the 17th century when opera emerged in musical theatre, it was the 19th century, and the rise of popularity of vaudeville and burlesque, when women started to gain ground in theatre — however at first, only in comedic roles impersonating men. Men, on the other hand, continued to perform in drag for comedic or shock value. Throughout film history this kind of programing has always been around. Shatner kissing Nichelle Nichols on public television created an uproar in the 60's. Titles like the Rocky Horror Picture Show through Brokeback Mountain have continued to be hits year after year, all before the term 'Woke' was even in American vernacular. My big question to those reds like DeSantis is that why is it just now a problem? What has changed? Did the promise of a Black Superman just set you off the rails? I'm not talking about bathroom rights here, I'm talking about media that anyone can easily ignore. No one has ever made anyone watch anything, why then is it a problem for grown up men to accept a black skinned mermaid in a Disney film aimed at kids, or dark skinned Elves when they've forever been around fantasy games? I'll tell you what's different from my point of view - reds today have banded together using this new term 'woke' as a rallying cry to help them justify being racist homophobic bigots. Before Trump's presidency where he endorsed racial riots and bigotry people would just ignore programming not aimed for themselves. There were no campaigns to cancel Brokeback Mountain. People like me not interested in that kind of thing would just ignore the titles and watch other things. Why then do we suddenly feel there's a need to wage war against those themes? It all comes down to monkeys acting like each other - one political leader screams foul so every one of you followers have to do the same. It's past time to wake up and realize what we've been told our whole lives. If skin color and orientation doesn't matter, why exactly are you pitching such a fit over it? Oh, I see, it matters to you reds. Exactly my point.The film itself isn't as bad as I thought it would be. I honestly didn't care much for it, but at least the performances weren't bad. A lot of the subject matter revolves around gender confusion in high-school aged kids, and I'm just not of a demographic that cares for that kind of thing. Yet the film seems to put forth this subject matter without being insulting, I think, which today seems like a hard thing to do. It's probably worth seeking out for those kids that might be a bit confused, or for anyone interested in that kind of subject matter. It just wasn't for me really.1986 Ranked1980’s RankedComedies RankedComedies in the 1980’s RankedComing of Age Comedies Ranked
If you cut out the last 10 minutes, this is the greatest gay trans masc story ever told xoxo
A rebellious teenage girl uses a magical potion during a solar eclipse to fulfill her wish of experiencing life as a boy, leading to unexpected changes in her family and school dynamics.
Willy/Milly was directed by Paul Schneider and released in 1986, starring Pamela Adlon in the dual lead role.
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