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TRUE TALES: Koko Da Doll reveals all
Kokomo City
Daniella Carter, Koko Da Doll, Liyah Mitchell
The current state of discourse around transgender identities is so toxic that even many accepting, enlightened voices are often bullied into coyness, talking around key issues to avoid attracting hateful, exclusionary responses. It’s resulted in some well-meaning but blandly filtered documentaries on the subject that preach empowerment while not really getting under the skin of trans people.
Frank, filthy mouthed but generous and even joyful in its outlook, D. Smith’s superb Kokomo City serves as a corrective to such filmmaking, leaving nothing off the table in its study of four Black trans women making a living as sex workers in New York and Atlanta. With raw honesty and a raucous sense of humour, they tell us everything about themselves, their bodies and the men who use them, answering just about any question you might have been afraid to ask.