Becoming Chaz

As real as real gets, invaluably adding human understanding to a hot-button topic.

It's incredibly moving to watch him finally become comfortable in his own skin.

Becoming Chaz is undoubtedly one of the most thought-provoking films you will see on any screen this year, a frankly chronicled tale of Chaz's life as a transgender man that opens a more than occasionally mind-blowing conversation about the essentials of gender, and subsequently, sexuality.

Why else would someone who grew up in the spotlight submit to an examination of his most private relationships and feelings if not to try to win strangers' hearts and minds?--but it's not nearly as interesting as the adjustments occurring to and around Chaz himself.

Several recent documentaries have tried to help the rest of the world understand the realities of being transgender, but, ironically, one of the better efforts does it well in spite of the fact that it focuses on the offspring of one of the most famous couples in pop culture.

Becoming Chaz never really gets under its subject's skin.

Becoming Chaz is one thing--and it's occasionally fascinating to watch--but being Chaz gets old pretty fast.