Quick Take: One of the most important films of 2020, Lingua Franca is a subtle and sensual story giving its audience a mirror with which to evaluate their role in transphobia and anti-immigration reform.

2020 has been a year of firsts: a global pandemic, masks as a necessity, education and jobs moving online. But the monumental achievement is the landmark film, Lingua Franca, making history as the first film directed and starring an openly trans woman of color, the deft and brilliant Isabel Sandoval. Sandoval’s voice as the screenwriter, lead actor, editor, and co-producer is a gift. She shares her experience and struggles with the audience, not to mention, her character has depth and intimacy never before seen due to the lack of representation historically for transgender voices. 

The film is set in our current political world with 45’s fear-mongering hostility against immigration and gender identity impending and looming. Olivia (Isabel Sandoval) is an undocumented transgender Filipina woman working as a caretaker to an elderly Russian-American, Olga (Lynn Cohen), in Brooklyn’s Brighton Beach. The only way she can rid the constant fear of ICE raids and anti-immigration news is marriage and leaving love out of the equation. The constant panic and fear tap into the migrant experience, trying to make a life in a country whose citizens are spoon-fed rhetoric that immigrants are the enemy. When Olga’s grandson Alex (Eamon Farren) comes back home after his time in some form of rehabilitation, he lives with Olga and becomes fascinated with Olivia.

“Lingua Franca” means a language that is adopted as a common language between speakers whose native languages are different. Nothing could better describe the relationship between Olivia and Alex. In the beginning, their interactions are focused on Alex learning Olga’s routine and how to care for her, and grows into a genuine interest in Olivia and her culture. As they become more intimate, they find their language but the secrets between them only continue to grow. The long pauses and tension between Alex and Olivia communicate far more than words ever could. Sandoval is a genius in these moments as she uses subtlety and framing, rather than heavy-handed dialogue and forecasting, to show Olivia’s isolation and true desire for love and romance 

Lingua Franca is a subtle and sensual story giving its audience a mirror with which to evaluate their role in transphobia and anti-immigration reform. Isabel Sandoval shows us the heartbreak and living terror immigrant trans women experience in America daily. She has made a film with cultural currency and a story that needs to be seen by all.

Distributed by ARRAY Releasing, Lingua Franca is available on Netflix this Friday, August 28, 2020.