River Gallo is a really interesting newcomer, holding a unique space as an intersex actor/writer/director and activist. Their background – working-class New Jersey – suffuses Ponyboi, the feature length film they wrote and starred in (Gallo made it as a short back in 2019). I’ve talked a lot about the lack of working-class perspective in film and television: plenty of stuff takes PLACE in the working-class world but often you can feel the middle-class presumptions/preconceived notions/condescension of the creators. It’s too early to say “Gallo’s work is different” – and of course their position as openly intersex is probably the most noteworthy – but, for me, Ponyboi, with all its cliches, feels authentically FROM a very specific world – and it’s because Gallo is really FROM that world. Anyway. Here’s my review.
