Transgender people in Japan have long found a haven of sorts in the entertainment world, be it as a dancer in a nightclub or an emcee on a network variety show. As we see in Eiji Uchida¡¯s tumultuous drama ¡°Midnight Swan,¡± though, that supposed haven can be fragile indeed.
Despite some progress in social acceptance of the LGBTQ community, compared with generations past, a transgender woman like the film¡¯s protagonist, played by one-time mega-idol Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, still faces the kind of prejudice that leaves her marginalized ¡ª or outcast ¡ª starting with her own family.
Based on Uchida¡¯s original script, the story of the protagonist, Nagisa, is dark to the point of being bleak, with its grim view of her prospects minus youth, love and, finally, health.
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