The Adventures of Sebastian Cole (1999, USA) Director: Williams, Tod Starring: Adrian Grenier; Clark Gregg	Official Web site
Length: 100 minutes Medium: color 35mm Language: English Genre: Transgender/ "Straight", Narrative MPAA Rating: R
The new Paramount Classics drama The Adventures of Sebastian Cole was warmly received at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival with the full cast and director present at a nearly sold-out show. The account of a self-destructive teen growing up in the early '80s in a small New York town features a too-nice performance by Clark Gregg as the stepfather/mother who takes care of Sebastian (Adrian Grenier) when he runs away from his alcoholic mother. Sebastian's acceptance of Henry/Henrietta as a transsexual grows throughout the film (his initial response when Henry says he wants to be a woman is, "You're gonna have your dick cut off?"), and she is certainly the only good authority figure in his life (setting limits and showing him love). But, in the tradition of William Hurt's Molina from Kiss of the Spider Woman, Gregg's Henry/Henrietta is sympathetic to a fault and ultimately we never have a chance to understand who she really is. --Jenni Olson