The Adventures of Sebastian Cole

Released 1999
Stars Adrian Grenier, Clark Gregg, Aleksa Palladino, Margaret Colin, John Shea, Marni Lustig, Gabriel Macht
Directed by Tod Williams

"The Adventures of Sebastian Cole" is a coming-of-age movie that puts a new spin on some of the challenges faced by sensitive teenagers. It's not unusual to have problems with a stepfather--but it's fairly rare for the stepfather to announce that he's decided to become a woman. It's also rare for a movie to show a teenager who needs guidance, and a parent willing to provide it. The fathers of most movie teenagers are absent, stupid or cruel; Sebastian's is wise and loving, first as Hank, then as Henrietta.

Sebastian (Adrian Grenier) is an introverted, screwed-up member of a dysfunctional upper-class family. He wants to be a writer. He's good-looking, but with so little self-confidence that when a girl seriously likes him, he dumps her. Sebastian is not thrilled by the emergence of Henrietta, and blames everything on his stepfather: "If you hadn't been so selfish and thought only of yourself, we'd all still be together and happy. Things were perfectly fine before." But they were not.

The film, written and directed by Tod Williams, recalls "A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries" (1998), another movie about children emerging from an unconventional family. That one, based on a memoir by the daughter of the novelist James Jones, showed a happy family. Sebastian comes from an unhappy one--but Hank/Henrietta makes it all right, by being willing to invest time and trouble in caring about him. This movie, which must sound odd, is reassuring: A good kid can survive a lot and turn out all right, despite the pain along the way.

Summary by Roger Ebert

This is a good movie about a self-involved, brooding teenager who has loving family members, but a difficult, fractured family. This is a different coming-of-age film in that we don't get to really understand the protagonist, and we don't get much resolution. It's a slice of life story that leaves us as bewildered by Sebastian's self-destructive behavior as his friends and family. We can guess his motivations stem from his distant father and drunken mother. His only anchor is his step-father, and that changes when Hank starts the process to become Henrietta. Hank/Henrietta is the highlight of film. He's the only person that actually tries to parent Sebastian, and he does his best during a very difficult time for himself.

This film is full of small moments of truth about adolescence. One is when Sebastian realizes he only talks about his own troubles and never helps Henrietta during her transition. This is so true. Children never consider their parents as people who may be scared, lonely, confused, etc. This scene plays perfectly because he mentions this to Hentrietta without a sappy score playing, and he shortly changes the subject back to himself. There are many such moments that never turn maudlin.

The comic relief comes from Sebastian's grandmother, who only has a couple of scenes but is hilarious with her attempts to belittle and control her family. I'm very fortunate to not have a matriarchal figure like that in my family, but two of my sisters-in-law have that very situation. Ouch. -- Bill Alward June 18, 2001