Customer Reviews

Aggressives

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have seen the Aggresors umm 3 times since Feb 2006. As a femme I enjoyed the movie and finally being able to see the women/womyn I love so much. One thing I don't like about how the movie is being portrayed is this. The aggressors are NOT trying to be men, they happen to embrace the masculine part of their personality over the femme part. My question is this when did men become owners of masculinity?

I enjoyed listening to every persons story in this documentary. I believe to a small degree people who had no clue about aggressors, stone butches, femme aggressors and the plethora of beautiful people we have in the GLBT community will learn something from this film.

In society today we all have labels, but as homosexuals we get called everything in the book, and let the truth be told, the words are not nice...But i thought this documentary was RIGHT ON POINT! I LOVED IT! And i thouht it displayed AG's EXACLTY!!! the way they are HONEST AND REAL!!! Even these AG's were mainly from NY, they are no differet/but yet very different from other AG's, and that is a mental statement/physical statement!!! Anyway....THE DOCUMENTARY IS HOT!!! Curious mind and minds that KNOW should check it out! Hmm....

The director spent five years on this documentary and it shows. This is a very honest, direct, non-exploitative view of young New York African-American lesbians of the "butch" or aggressive persuasion whose stories are revealingly poignant. Each of the six females presented in the documentary are extremely different in class, personality, choice of attire (even articulation) but all share the common thread of a lifestyle that is burdensome to some degree. The weight of this burden juxtaposed against the exhilaration of loving the feminine female results in an apparent vulnerability that is captured well by D. Peddle, the director. These young women -- individuals all -- allow us a look into their turbulent lives. It is worth viewing more than once

To the outside world, it is hard to understand. A girl, who looks like a boy, who dates girls. This documentary delves into the world of AG's (or Aggressive women). Even within the gay community, AG's are hard to understand. AG's cross so many economic and sociological boundaries, that is hard to strike a balance. As a feminine woman who loves AG's, this documentary shows that an AG is more than about the walk, the talk, and the clothes. This documentary takes a strong look at what their lives are like on a daily basis. The hurt, the pain, the happiness, and the pride are all on display for everyone to see. In the end, this documentary shows that it is not about what you wear, what you look like, what you do, or who you love. It is about who you are and it was refreshing to see that they were proud of it all.

Many reviewers liked The Aggressives. I watched the film last night and I am baffled by the good reviews. This movie is boring and runs in circles throughout its 75 minutes. It is just one person's opinion, but I strongly recommend that viewers skip this film.

The Aggressives focuses on a lesbian subculture in New York City in which some women make themselves as masculine as possible. Some of the women in the subculture go so far as to take male hormones in order to grow facial hair. In spite of their masculine appearances, all of these women insist that they have no interest in becoming males.

The film develops just a few ideas and repeats them over and over. Many of these women talk about their experiences as drug dealers. Several women discuss their time in prison. The women also expound upon the fact that being an aggressive means that they "wear the pants" in their relationships. Unfortunately, most of the interviewees are inarticulate and fail to offer insights into their behaviors.

It is not fair, however, to blame the interviewees for The Aggressives. The filmmakers should bear the brunt of the criticism for failing to tell a compelling story. It took five years to make this movie, but all the viewer gets are a bunch of poorly-edited scenes. There were many themes that the filmmakers could have pursued in order to make the film meaningful to the viewer. The film hints at these topics (racism, acceptance by family, the decision to be an aggressive, plans for the future, etc.). Unfortunately, it never seemed to occur to the filmmakers to tell a story with a beginning, a middle, and an end. Instead, the film just spins it wheels for 75 minutes until it (mercifully) comes to an end.

For an interesting documentary about gay/lesbian life, I would recommend "Gidyup" (about gay rodeo), "For the Bible Tells Me So" (on gays and organized religion), or "Small Town Gay Bar."

I had heard a lot about this movie. Was told that it was powerful and was a must see. Well I finally bought it when I learned that it was on DVD. I got it within 4 days, and ripped open the packaging when I got home from work. At first view I saw the movie as, yea I'm going to see a bunch of manly looking women, a bunch of touch-me nots (possibly), but instead I see just women. I then looked back on my own life, and realize I was just like them. The movie has its good points and some bad points. As I saw a few of those being followed as totally not true to what they were claiming. As I saw it, I was more of a "butch" than they were. The one highly overweight woman (her name escapes me) I kept looking at her trying to figure where anyone would "mistake" her for a man. Its just not happening, she has so many womanly facial features. As I do as well, which I think the only reason people mistake me for a man is that they take one look at my fade and assume, then they see my facial features and say I'm sorry.

The movie is great to watch when you want to kill some time. I'll be sharing this with my own gf when I get home to get her opinion on it.

I'm glad that they showed the different lifestyle of different lesbians. I think they need to make do a more updated documentary now. And ugh ! TIFFANY IS SO SEXY !!! Its her persona more than anything <3<3

I am a member of the group portrayed in this flick ... in the class of "femme aggressive," and I loved this movie. It appeals on many levels. I love the true stone cold butch and I also love the lipstick femmes ... and all the shades of gray in between. I relate most to Kisha ... tough, in control, independent, and yet capitalizing on my female side when that works for me.
A great documentary, but then it sort of felt like the ball was dropped in the end ... no real closure, it felt like. This film was really intense and personal and in your face, but the conclusion did not match up to the footage leading up to it.
Still loved it, can't stop watching it actually since it came out on Netflix.

Hey guys,

Please feel free to join my fan page for Kisha Batista on
Facebook! Let's let her know how much her fans love her and want to see
more of her! Thanks!

I got wind of this documentary when it first came out but was skeptical that anyone could faithfully portray the intersections of race, gender, sexuality, and class for this often-antagonized segment of our society. I first saw the documentary as part of a film festival session and was floored. I now own a copy.

In these women's lives, I saw pieces of myself at various stages of my coming "in" process. I saw pieces of my friends who exist across all dimensions of the gender-sexuality continuum. I saw, possibly for the first time, how the people who love us negotiate their own contradictory feelings about who we are and how we should live our lives.

There is simply...no comparison for this work. Of course, people have tackled these issues before with grace (e.g., Cheryl Dunye's Stranger Inside, Laurinda D. Brown's Strapped, Lisa C. Moore's does your mama know?, forgive me for those I have not mentioned). However, this is the first piece of work I have witnessed that 1) has provided a variegated view of "the black butch," 2) faithfully addressed the challenges of economic mobility faced by women who, captured in the racial tangles of urban America, are easily dismissed because of the ambiguous gender space they occupy, and 3) with sensitivity and a creative curiosity, captured the fluidity of gender and sexual identity across time and space.

In The Aggressives documentary, we are able to witness the complexities of negotiating a place for self in a world that has no checkbox for you but instead demands you fill in the blanks. Thank you, Daniel Peddle, for your contribution to a gaping hole in our collective consciousness.