"Outerlands" Provides Community in Unexpected Places

Sometimes, it’s the small moments of life that end up accumulating to a big change. Such is the case for Cass in Outerlands, a new film directed by Elena Oxman. I watched this film as part of the Reeling Film Festival, an international LGBTQ+ festival in Chicago. A complete list of all of the films I saw and reviewed there can be found here.

When we first see them, Cass is a waiter who drinks too much and lives a fairly isolated existence. They’re just trying to get by day-to-day, paying their rent in cash and babysitting to pick up extra money. At the laundromat one night they run into their new co-worker, Kalli, and the two of them hook up.

Kalli never ends up returning Cass’s text the next day, but she eventually does reach out to ask for a favor. She has a job in Las Vegas and needs someone to watch her 11-year-old while she does it. Cass agrees despite having never met the kid, and suddenly Ari is thrust into her life, a situation that gets more complicated when Kalli goes off the grid and doesn’t return when planned.

It was beautiful to watch the relationship between Cass and Ari form. They’re both quiet kids with semi-absent parents and an obsession with video games. It’s this latter hobby that brings them together eventually, creating a weird bond that’s far from superficial despite how few words they actually exchange. Intergenerational friendships and community can be so powerful, and this was a great example of not just the way an older person can make a difference in a young person’s life, but the way that young person can impact their elder.

Over the course of the film, Cass is forced to reckon with their own childhood, their drinking, and the way they’re living their life. When their building forces them to start paying rent online rather than in cash, they head to the bank to try to pay off their overdraft and inactivity fees. There, they run into a kind banker played by Lea DeLaria. The banker also happens to work for the Safe Ride program and she’d driven Cass home on previous occasions. 

The Banker is the heart of the movie, in many ways. She is infallibly supportive of Cass and works with their eccentricities and offputting demeanor. She wants other queer people to succeed. Even though the tone of Outerlands is dark and sad—I cried multiple times—there’s a nurturing undertone that truly brings it to life.

I’m always surprised by Lea DeLaria’s body of work. She has consistently acted in queer films since the beginning of her career, and breaking into the mainstream with Orange is the New Black didn’t change that. I wish she was given bigger parts in bigger films, of course, but I appreciate the way she boosts indie filmmakers by appearing in smaller roles in these films. 

Seeing this film at Reeling meant that I was surrounded by other queer people while watching, and that made the experience incredible. There was an older lesbian that made little noises of disbelief or support whenever something happened, and I got to listen to a group of young people debriefing the story on their walk out. 

I would highly recommend this film to anyone who enjoys queer stories centered around one person doing their best to survive.