“I’ll Show You Mine” engages viewers in a snarky, frivolous interview story about best-selling author Priya (Poorna Jagannathan) and former model Nick (Casey Thomas Brown). Teasing. and co-author of a new book. He is also Priya’s marital nephew.
The way director Megan Griffiths portrays Priya’s pre-interview intimidation gives the impression that Priya is preparing for a date. This is one of the many feints that keep us guessing what happens between the two. And through powerful silences during conversations about sex and trauma, the film prompts us to think about what happened between them years ago.
Nick, who is married and has children, once proudly presented himself as a young, gender-defying model long before nonbinary identities were widely recognized. He still defaults to a casually shy charm. Priya is fascinated and distrustful of his openness to sex and gender. Her first book was titled “The Abusive Patriarch(y): A Culture Autobiography”. And not only Priya but also Nick has her bad father’s shadow hanging over them as they begin to trade history in her living room.
The director punctuates Priya and Nick’s couch sessions with animated flashbacks, cheeky and vivid illustrations, and chapter headings. Still, the film (written by Tiffany Luke, Elizabeth Searle, and David Shields) is a decidedly chatty double feature. Good thing Jagannathan and Brown are theater trained. They imbue Priya and Nick’s dense altercations, evasions, and truths with a compelling chiaroscuro hue.
show me mine
Unrated. Running time: 1 hour 42 minutes.theater or Available for rent or purchase on most major platforms.
