After a 10-year absence from the small New Zealand farming community where he was born and raised, transgender activist Caz (an impressive Elz Carrad) has made the difficult decision to return and attempt to rebuild a relationship with his estranged father. He reconnects with his best friend, Anahera (Awhina-Rose Ashby), who is struggling to claim her own identity as a Mãori woman, and with Jem (Arlo Green), his boyfriend from the time before his transition. “You weren’t like the other girls,” fumbles Jem, as he attempts to make sense of his feelings. “That’s because I wasn’t one,” Caz explains, patiently.
But the town of Rūrangi is conservative and entrenched, and not everyone is ready to welcome Caz back. The storytelling might be a little simplistic at times, but Carrad is magnetic, and the tentative rekindling of romance with Jem is a joy.
