Before I Change My Mind

Enrolling in a new high school in Alberta, 1987, gender-ambivalent Robin (Vaughan Murrae) disarms the class Alpha male, Carter (Dominic Lippa) on a school trip to Edmonton Mall, then tentatively hooks up with the latter’s latest crush, Izzy (Lacey Oake), the lead in a community theatre production of Mary Magdalene: Video Star… Trevor Anderson’s accomplished coming of age movie slyly subverts expectations, embracing complexity and contradiction in its nuanced take on fledgling identities, while delivering laugh out loud moments and big emotional showdowns.

Anderson — making his first feature — also has a cameo here as the director of the Magdalene musical, and fellow filmmaker Matthew Rankin also takes a key role as Daniel, Robin’s mild-mannered dad.

A treat for viewers of any age, this is a bold little indie film which might well have mass market appeal, its queer subject matter just part of a bigger parcel of astute social observation delivered with humour and verve.

Jennie Kermode, Eye for Film