Kelet (2020)

Kelet: Directed by Susani Mahadura. With Kelet, Lola, Ofimja, Amanda. Kelet is a young Somali trans woman who dreams of becoming a Vogue model. Leaving her family in Manchester to return to her childhood home in Finland, she draws on the support of her friends in the Vogue community to immerse herself in Helsinki’s glamour. Watch this shy and courageous young woman build a new life for herself, face her fears and her past, and succeed in following her dreams.

“I should confess right away that I spent two years as a student in a conservatory, and have spent all my life hanging around with musicians. Iu0026#39;m sure that influenced my positive opinion about this movie, and I can understand why other reviewers who donu0026#39;t share my background donu0026#39;t find it funny.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI knew I was going to enjoy it when the opening credits featured cartoons by the inimitable Gerard Hoffunung. The cast list also promised a host of Britainu0026#39;s most amusing character players. The script and score are by Bruce Montgomery, a fine mystery writer and film composer. And how odd that the opening scene outside the music school used the exact same filming location as was used for the hospital in u0026quot;Doctor in the House.u0026quot; (Not to mention that the doctoru0026#39;s nemesis also plays the studentsu0026#39; nemesis here, too.) u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOf course, as others have pointed out, most of the actors are too old for their u0026quot;studentu0026quot; roles, and the plot is fairly thin (but typical for a sitcom). Whatu0026#39;s funny for me are all the jokes and situations that any working musician will have had to deal with: overbearing teachers, time-wasting teachers, blabbing conductors, over-confident student hot-shots, conflict between u0026quot;seriousu0026quot; and u0026quot;popu0026quot; music, etc. If you donu0026#39;t know who Barbirolli and Sargent are, youu0026#39;ll miss a couple of jokes. (And you might not also catch the u0026quot;skeletons on a tin roofu0026quot; joke from Sir Thomas Beecham.) Thereu0026#39;s even a tip of the hat to Victorian novelist Anthony Trollope, if you look carefully at the music school sign.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe 90 minutes breezed by, and the HD version available on Amazon Prime looked pristine on my iPad. Recommended highly for musical people; and fairly highly for fans of mid-century British comedy. Kenneth Williams alone is worth the price of admission.”