Normal

Adele Tullis’s formally straightforward but aesthetically convincing documentary examines rigidly defined gender roles and the uncritical submission to the dictates of (hetero-)normativity. Turning her camera’s gaze on everyday actions, rituals and scenes, the director makes some of the situations she records seem disconcerting by juxtaposing sounds and images in a contradictory montage. In long, static shots she depicts girls being made up to look like princesses; a father accompanying his son to a motorcycle race; and a group of screaming teenage girls having their photos taken with an idolised YouTube star. She also shows boys playing first-person shooter games and Gotcha; she follows the photo shoot of a newly married couple, watches hen nights getting out of hand, films a course designed to show young men how to become alpha males, and another in which women learn how best to serve their husbands in marriage. Tulli remains consistently observant, almost distant, throughout. But in the end, we realise that this succession of countless uncommented stereotypical actions does contain a commentary after all.