Butch Jamie (Written and Directed by Michelle Ehlen)

Writer/director/actor Michelle Ehlen poses the ultimate conundrum in her first feature-length film Butch Jamie: lesbian versus cat – who do we root for? Jamie is a struggling Hollywood actor who doesn’t fit the conventions of a leading lady (Is it the soul patch?). As if the humiliation of femmeying herself up and being continually shot down weren’t enough, Jamie is also forced to deal with the success of her roommate’s cat Howard, actor extraordinaire. As Howard effortlessly gets role after role, Jamie’s bitterness escalates to the point of having existential arguments with him. “I can eat fake flowers too!” Part of the charm of Butch Jamie is its irreverence, its ability to laugh at the purrformance of gender (sorry) and how these performances change our perceptions of the world and how we react/relate to others.

With the aid of her cute lesbro friend, Jamie becomes emboldened and decides to audition for a film in all her butch glory – and wouldn’t you know, she nails it. The catch is the directors want her to play a man and to pretend to be a man while on the set. So she dons a tube sock and some facial hair and becomes Male Jamie. While it looked as if someone had glued a Furbie to her face, Jamie easily passes as a man, and even catches the attention of the waifish costume designer. I won’t ruin the many discoveries Jamie makes during her foray in the male realm, though the words “piece of ass” are definitely involved, and paint cans, and a run-in with an angry German, recovering alcoholic lesbian. (Ed note: but not all at once!)

In addition to gender, dating conventions, male stereotypes and assumptions are also played with, which provided the bulk of the laughter, though sometimes in tired ways. For instance, apropos of nothing, Jamie tells a fellow male co-worker, “Yeah, I banged her” and points to a random girl on the set. And the requisite “bisexuality doesn’t exist” rhetoric is in there as well, which is quite common in queer films and kind of ironic, considering the widely held belief of “diversity” that the queer community claims to embrace. But, Butch Jamie isn’t really about seriousness – it is a romantic comedy after all. One great scene involved the discovery of Jamie’s Ace bandage, which she’d been using to bind her rack with. Not willing to give up the façade, she makes the outlandish claim that her heart has just been replaced by a raccoon’s. If you’re looking for some comic relief, Butch Jamie might be just what you’re looking for. Though don’t look too hard or you’ll scare the Furbie.


Anna is a freelance masochist who's seen almost every bad lesbian movie to date and secretly loves them all. You can contact her at banannarama01@yahoo.com