Lingua Franca
2020·Drama·1h 34m
7.1
★
Olivia, an undocumented Filipina immigrant paranoid about deportation, works as a caregiver to a Russian-Jewish grandmother in New York. When the man she’s secretly paying for a green card marriage backs out, she becomes involved with a slaughterhouse worker who is unaware that she’s a trans woman.
Directed by Isabel Sandoval
brooklyn, new york city
caregiver
lgbt
woman director
trans woman
Trailer
IMDB
N/A
Cast
Isabel Sandoval
Olivia
Lynn Cohen
Olga
Eamon Farren
Alex
Ivory Aquino
Trixie
Lev Gorn
Murray
P.J. Boudousqué
Andrei
Andrea Leigh
Daria
Roman Blat
Viktor
Megan Channell
Milla
Shiloh Verrico
Maggie
Mark Nelson
Roman
Daniel Danielson
Clerk
Crew
Isabel Sandoval
Director
Isabel Sandoval
Writer
Teresa Barrozo
Original Music Composer
Isabel Sandoval
Editor
R.S. Francisco
Executive Producer
Sarah Brennan Kolb
Executive Producer
Fernando Ortigas
Executive Producer
E.A. Rocha
Executive Producer
Isabel Sandoval
Producer
Jhett Tolentino
Producer
Clint Ramos
Costume Design
Dax Stringer
First Assistant Director
Popular Reviews
63 reviews
Blake
6.0★ · 03/26/26
PAKYUUUUUU TRUMP AT ICE AGENTS
PAKYUUUUUU TRUMP AT ICE AGENTS
1
red
10.0★ · 05/06/26
Putangina ng ICE
Putangina ng ICE
ScottPRO
6.0★ · 05/03/26
I mean, abolish ice
I mean, abolish ice
Mari
10.0★ · 05/01/26
Amazing salient view on the kind of social dependence those living on the margins are suspended within. A unique place where you're trading whose mercy you live by.
Trans films always seem to feature the emasculated lover, someone who serves the purpose of bridging to the ethnocultural & heteronormative center. These two positions of contrast are a central move in speaking on trans issues. Alex's need for possession is framed to be influenced by his emasculation. Someone who "doesn't" fit, or succeed, but nevertheless possesses leverage by virtue of his status in society as non-marginal. The American proletariat stepping over the bodies of immigrants for their own self gratification under a system that despises them. The populist-fascist sentiment doesn't run thick in this movie, it's merely in its infancy and dregs. The banal domination existing at every intersection of identity. He is blind to his own privilege. It motivates his saviour complex, and in so doing recreates a kind of silent prejudice, one whose weight is impossibly complicated to tackle. Plausible deniability, good intentions, these are things the marginalized are forever expected to tread with care, for they are always the mercy of bare minimums.
Lingua Franca's silence speaks volumes in that respect. The world will continue to try and possess her, and convince her that it is just.
Trans films always seem to feature the emasculated lover, someone who serves the purpose of bridging to the ethnocultural & heteronormative center. These two positions of contrast are a central move in speaking on trans issues. Alex's need for possession is framed to be influenced by his emasculation. Someone who "doesn't" fit, or succeed, but nevertheless possesses leverage by virtue of his status in society as non-marginal. The American proletariat stepping over the bodies of immigrants for their own self gratification under a system that despises them. The populist-fascist sentiment doesn't run thick in this movie, it's merely in its infancy and dregs. The banal domination existing at every intersection of identity. He is blind to his own privilege. It motivates his saviour complex, and in so doing recreates a kind of silent prejudice, one whose weight is impossibly complicated to tackle. Plausible deniability, good intentions, these are things the marginalized are forever expected to tread with care, for they are always the mercy of bare minimums.
Lingua Franca's silence speaks volumes in that respect. The world will continue to try and possess her, and convince her that it is just.
Amazing salient view on the kind of social dependence those living on the margins are suspended within. A unique place where you're trading whose mercy you live by.
Trans films always seem to feature the emasculated lover, someone who serves the purpose of bridging to the ethnocultural & heteronormative center. These two positions of contrast are a central move in speaking on trans issues. Alex's need for possession is framed to be influenced by his emasculation. Someone who "doesn't" fit, or succeed, but nevertheless possesses leverage by virtue of his status in society as non-marginal. The American proletariat stepping over the bodies of immigrants for their own self gratification under a system that despises them. The populist-fascist sentiment doesn't run thick in this movie, it's merely in its infancy and dregs. The banal domination existing at every intersection of identity. He is blind to his own privilege. It motivates his saviour complex, and in so doing recreates a kind of silent prejudice, one whose weight is impossibly complicated to tackle. Plausible deniability, good intentions, these are things the marginalized are forever expected to tread with care, for they are always the mercy of bare minimums.
Lingua Franca's silence speaks volumes in that respect. The world will continue to try and possess her, and convince her that it is just.
Trans films always seem to feature the emasculated lover, someone who serves the purpose of bridging to the ethnocultural & heteronormative center. These two positions of contrast are a central move in speaking on trans issues. Alex's need for possession is framed to be influenced by his emasculation. Someone who "doesn't" fit, or succeed, but nevertheless possesses leverage by virtue of his status in society as non-marginal. The American proletariat stepping over the bodies of immigrants for their own self gratification under a system that despises them. The populist-fascist sentiment doesn't run thick in this movie, it's merely in its infancy and dregs. The banal domination existing at every intersection of identity. He is blind to his own privilege. It motivates his saviour complex, and in so doing recreates a kind of silent prejudice, one whose weight is impossibly complicated to tackle. Plausible deniability, good intentions, these are things the marginalized are forever expected to tread with care, for they are always the mercy of bare minimums.
Lingua Franca's silence speaks volumes in that respect. The world will continue to try and possess her, and convince her that it is just.
Amanda Kiffer
8.0★ · 01/17/26
Jesus, man….. this one really hit hard... I need a hug…
Jesus, man….. this one really hit hard... I need a hug…