Review:
"Kokomo City"
Release Date: Aug. 4, 2023
Rating: R Running Time: 73 minutes “I’ve been wanting to tell my story for a long time because I want people to understand that it’s OK … just being something you were you born to be,” says Koko da Doll at the end of Kokomo City, director D. Smith’s equally revealing and empathetic documentary about black transgender sex workers. Koko continues: “I can’t believe the world makes you think you’re done something wrong if you come out gay or as a boy being effeminate …. It’s ridiculous and I’m sick of it.” Koko’s desire for respect and acceptance in a country that has sadly grown increasingly hostile in recent years to the transgender community will never be realized. This past April, the 35-year-old aspiring rapper—whose real name was Rasheeda Williams—was shot to death in Atlanta allegedly by a 17-year-old male. Several days later, the Atlanta Police Department put out a press release stating that Koko’s tragic murder was the third unrelated violent crime committed this year against transgender women of color in the city. This disturbing trend ties directly to the concerns raised not just by Koko in Kokomo City but by D. Smith’s three other subjects based in either Atlanta or New York, Daniella Carter, Dominque Silver, and Liyah Mitchell. But even watching Kokomo City without first knowing Koko’s fate leaves you shaken and anger at how these women—and others like them who turn to sex work to pay the bills—can and are treated in such horrific ways. Koko’s presence in the documentary just makes this a reality too stark to ignore. Smith—who is also a transgender woman with roots in the music industry—opens Kokomo City with an anecdote by Liyah about an unexpected violent encounter with a new client. While the incident in question eventually takes an amusing turn, it not only speaks directly to the inherent dangers sex workers face daily but also to the violence members of the transgender community can and do face for simply being who they are. “Violence doesn’t happen before the organism,” Dominque says. “It happens after and then they act out because they feel like their masculinity is threatened. And they why you need to be honest.” The “they” Dominque refers to are the heterosexual cisgender black men who pay to be with transgender sex workers. “It’s crazy because these types of men, you would never think that they would do anything with a trans woman or a gay people,” Liyah adds. Spurred by Liyah’s observation that such clients feel comfortable being around her because it allows them to be who they are without fear, director D. Smith conducts a deep and fascinating exploration of perceived threats to black masculinity not just through her conversations with her four subjects but with several men who openly or begrudgingly admit they are trans attracted. One man even shares the sad story of being shunned by his mother for dating a transgender woman. Smith makes clear with her documentary that attraction cannot be denied—all that matters is how a heterosexual cisgender man reacts to that attraction. Smith’s most fascinating subject, though, is Daniella Carter, who not just dissects with wisdom and eloquence to the contradictory feelings that their clients grapple as well as the women they cheat on but on the intersection of transphobia and racism. “The black experience has always been limited to the way in which a white person old us we can live. We threaten that as black trans people,” Daniella says. While D. Smith obviously employs Kokomo City as a means to highlight the risks transgender black woman face, especially as sex workers, she also celebrates the women she spotlights. Shot in gloriously black and white that heightens the beauty of each of Smith’s subjects, Kokomo City effortlessly positions each woman as unique while sharing their universal experiences and observations as members of both the transgender and sex worker communities. Each woman shines in her own way and proving to be fighter in a war against hate and ignorance. To this end, Kokomo City serves as a remarkable tribute to transgender women living their true life no matter the cost. Robert Sims Aired: Aug. 9, 2023. Web sites: https://www.magpictures.com/kokomocity/ |
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