JT LeRoy

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I didn't know about this story at all untIl I came across this film. It sounded interesting and promising. Unfortunately, it's another case where the film couldn't handle the plot. Laura Dern plays Laura, an author based in San Francisco who has found fame through a supposedly autobiographical novel that she wrote under the name "J. T. Leroy." She fuels the myth of this character by giving phone interviews with a deeper voice and even romancing a European actress/model who I discovered was Asia Argento in real life. It's not until Savannah (Kristen Stewart) moves in with her and her boyfriend (Jim Sturgess) that J. T. Leroy starts to make his public appearances. Laura finds Savannah to be the perfect androgynous woman to bring her vision of J. T. Leroy to life. Savannah agrees to go along with the charade and soon finds herself hanging out with celebrities, traveling to big cities, and falling for the model that Laura has sweet talked through J. T. All this is based on a true story and believe me when I say this small summary I've typed up is much more interesting than the actual film. I'm not going to bash Kristen Stewart, she actually tried with her performance, I could tell. Sadly, it just fell flat. When she's acting as J. T. Leroy, it's just not convincing that anyone fell for this trick. Although the movie addresses that people questioned if J. T. was actually a female, but the way Stewart brings this character to life, there's just no question. Kristen Stewart's pan face acting did not work for this role, I don't think she was the right casting choice. It could've worked when she was in drag as J. T. but it didn't, she still looks like herself even in the "disguise." Laura Dern, on the other hand, is fantastic (as expected) She's the one who keeps you interested in watching, because without her I would've turned this film off a long time ago, but she kept me watching. Her character is more important than J. T., I mean she created J. T. all this mess is her doing. Sadly, the movie doesn't focus enough on her and just tells thing from Savannah's point of view. Maybe this could've worked if someone else played Savannah, but I think the film would've worked if it followed Laura more to understand why she created this fantasy in the first place. The script has Laura say lines that basically explain her escapist tendencies. However, I wish it spent time with that instead of showing me what Savannah was doing because Stewart's performance made it seem like she wasn't struggling or anything, just sitting there not reacting to anything. Even when Stewart cries as this character, it's just so emotionless and it really helped drain the film. Add that to this movie's slow pacing, it's a recipe for disaster. This film moves really slow. I kid you not, in the scenes where Laura Dern is missing, I would fall asleep. It took me 3 days to complete this film cos every time Laura Dern was off screen, I would fall asleep and wake up to the film being over. I kept coming back because I was determined to come back to see how the truth is discovered and to see Laura Dern's performance. It's such a shame that her wonderful performance is wasted on this boring, dull film. I'd recommend this film to watch solely for her Dern's performance, but then you'd have to suffer through so many dragging, boring scenes. Someone on youtube has to upload a video where it's this film but it's only Laura Dern, if it already exists then I suggest you watch that, instead of the actual film. The 3 stars are for Laura Dern's performance and the songs selected for the soundtrack. Skip this film.

Interesting film, which was probably better in its initial idea, than in its execution. At moments it is really weak, but then towards the end it has some illuminating moments. Laura Dern is brilliant. She is the sole of the film. Still story has some flows that spoil a lot of potential that could be developed into a masterpiece. Namely, the film used the true story about the writer's fraud identity to show a touching story about people's wish to cross over their gender identities and become somebody else. The film exploited the old paradox shown in the famous film "Victor, Victoria", where an actress pretends that she is a man who performs as a woman. This is how she and her friend manage to hide a fact that she is just another, proper but uninteresting female singer and actress. People do suspect that she is a woman, but they are being fooled by the explanation that it is just an act. All these elements are present in JT LEROY story as well, even the fact that whole fraud starts going down when the main pretender falls in love., and can't take the fraud going on. What is different in JT LEroy movie is that the pretender, played by Kristen Stewart, indeed has an issues with her own sexuality, and is clearly struggling with her desire to be a cis man. And of course, unlike "Victor, Victoria", this is not a comedy... The film has a serious problem with time framing which is bad and confusing, and so many details are badly incorporated in the story. For instance, we have a two minute of a manager played by Courtney Love, who should be an important person in the story, but then the script forgets about her. Also, some elements in the behavior of the European actress, Eva, are not clear, we are not clear whether she knows or cares whether JT is a girl or a boy. It is shown as somehow irrelevant for her, but come one, it can't be irrelevant to that point, that you even don't mention in the movie, especially, when you are intimate with someone. Dianne Kruger is a high class actress, her character is shown in such a way that everybody would fall in love with her, let alone a young shy and insecure queer girl. Pity that Kruger's talent has not been used to picture a slightly different, multilayered type of actress - not just always a screaming, ambitious and shallow diva. At last, its always difficult to comment on Kristen Stewart, because she has huge ups and downs in her acting, and she is still looking for her chance to show whether she is really good. I mean, she is good, but not all the time, and not in every aspect. It looks she is getting bunch of roles of young, insecure, unremarkable women, and, man, I would not say she is doing very well with it. Give that role to Saoirse Ronan or Chloe Sevigny (15 years) ago, or this new British actress Jodie Comer (Killing Eve show) and you will get an Oscar role. Kristen is not exactly that type of actress, she still has to learn a lot and work on herself a lot. She was not a perfect choice for this role, simply, because she does not really look androgynous at all, in spite her boyish style. Plus, her anemic sick looking face became a convention wherever she plays. Its becoming boring. She is definitely underestimated as an actress, but also overrestimated in terms of her physical abilities, and entire screen persona. For androgynous roles she should work a bit on her looks, stile, appearance, she has to gain some muscles and some manly attitude. For now, she is still unconvincing.

What was that? The storyline was a great idea but they didn't work well with it. Came out slow and boring. Is kristen supposed to fool them that she is a guy? She looks nothing like a boy even when she is dressed as one. 2 stars for Laura Dern who did amazing job. Great actress!

The overall actors,acting,storyline & cinematography was average. Didn't know this was based on a true story,regardless doesn't improve the movie. If you're a fan of any actors in this,worth your time to watch.. Still,perhaps not!

I knew nothing of this tale, but am aware that literary license allows for all forms of fantastical creations including interesting pseudonyms. Not sure if it's better to look up the history of this true story before or wait 'till after watching. One cannot know all, but it appears to be a somewhat accurate accounting. Great acting. Worth reading the background & then watching again.

Laura Albert (Laura Dern) is an author who created a fictional autobiography writing under the name of JT LeRoy. JT's mother was a truckstop hooker. Since male customers didn't like boys being around, his mother would dress him up as a girl. Laura lives in San Francisco with Geoff (Jim Sturgess) who writes music for the band "Twist & Scream." Laura does the lyrics. When Geoff's sister Savannah (Kristen Stewart) comes out to live with them, Laura gets the idea of using her to be the face of JT whom no one has ever seen. What starts off as a single photo for a magazine becomes a whole persona for Savannah who becomes addicted to playing the role. I lived during this era and don't recall any of this...and I watch all the movies about truckstop hookers I can locate. However, I stopped watching E! in the 1990s as well as MTV when they started to play rap. So I could have missed it. Kristen Stewart played a moody person who doesn't show emotion, her typecast...not as good as Snow White when she played dead but close. Guide: F-word, ex, brief Kristen Stewart nudity.

The story is interesting, but the film is not particularly engaging. Laura Dern is great in the film, as usual. The rest is pretty bland, and does not leave a lasting impression.

I watched this film not knowing anything about the books of Laura Albert or the true hoax that she partnered with Savannah Knoop to create. This movie is based on Knoop's memoirs and I thought it was a layered and complex film that never seemed to work the way the filmmakers intended it to. Laura Dern is, as usual, terrific in her role as Albert. I really like the understated acting of Kristen Stewart, as a rule, but she's just too low-key here and against the overbearing and manipulative character of Dern's it just gets annoying to watch after a while. Kelvin Harrison Jr. shines in a supporting role and Diane Kruger is excellent here as well. As I read, there's at least 1 doc on this whole affair so I may very well check that out and compare it to the movie. Overall, I can't say exactly why but I felt there was much more to this true story than what was given to us on screen.