Carl(a)

Joslyn DeFreece plays the title character in director/co-writer Eli Hershko's transgender drama "Carl(a)," which co-stars trans celebrity Laverne Cox in the role of a fellow sex worker named Cinnamon.

While Cinnamon walks the streets Carla sticks closer to home, interacting with clients via video link. When one of those clients -- a programmer named Sam (Gregg Bello) -- reaches out with an invitation to get more personal, Carla balks: She's too used to rejection and hurt to believe that a client could take a genuine interest in her as a person.

While the neighborhood toughs are one source of that rejection, much more painful is the way Carla's family has responded to her life as a woman. Her grandfather (Mark Morgolis) attempts time and again to broker a truce between Carla, her belligerent brother (Christopher Kloko), contemptuous father (Elliot Mayer), and weak-willed mother (Janice Mann), but he doesn't make much headway. A sudden twist brings Carla the windfall she needs to undergo surgery and complete her transition, but more emotionally challenging and complex are the ties she's developed with Sam -- and he's reluctant to see her complete her journey to physical womanhood.

The plot may rely on some fairytale elements and fairly two-dimensional antagonists, but Hershko's story (co-devised with Christopher Theokas) is sensitive and nuanced. Carla's relationships with her mother and with Cinnamon are allowed to blossom and take on unexpected depth, and those relationships in turn color what happens between Carla and Sam. To view this film is to start to understand, a little, the enormous challenges and pressures trans people contend with on a daily basis.

"Carl(a)" take its place alongside other recent films like "Boy Meets Girl" and the Tom Hooper drama "The Danish Girl," cinematic ventures into fresh territory that treat the stories of transwomen with respect and compassion. This movie has yet to attain the sort of notice that's come to the almost farcical "Tangerine," another trans-centric film that critics have raved about this year, but that's the sort of recognition this film deserves. Cox is a powerful presence, but DeFreece holds the screen and works a slower sort of magic.

There's a world of hurt throbbing away in this movie, but also a world of wonder; once you've seen it, "Carl(a)" is going to stick in your mind for a long time to come.