Southern Comfort

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Southern Comfort

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1h 30m

Documentary

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97%

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35 Reviews

86%

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1,000+ Ratings

Kate Davis's award-winning documentary chronicles the final four seasons in the life of Robert Eads, a female-to-male transsexual dying of ovarian cancer in rural Georgia. Striking a balance between Robert's biological family -- mother, father, sons and grandson -- and his "chosen" family of transgender friends including Maxwell, Cas and Lola Cola, his male-to-female transsexual partner, Davis documents Eads's final days at the Southern Comfort Conference, a national transgender gathering.

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Critics Consensus

Kate Davis candidly tracks the lives of multiple trans individuals, most notably that of Robert Eads, a life worth celebrating and witnessing in this revelatory exploration of finding Southern Comfort.

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Catherine Dawson March

Globe and Mail

Mar 11

For many there's a voyeuristic fascination, especially when Max and Cori talk about their sex lives and inject themselves with hormones, but Southern Comfort is a poignant and engaging story.

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Gene Seymour

Newsday

Mar 11

3.5/4

Davis takes you so far into the lives of these folks that maybe for a moment you wonder how they could permit such sustained disclosure of themselves. Then you remember the doctors. And you realize that there is still lessons to be learned.

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Jami Bernard

New York Daily News

Mar 11

The ordinary travails of rural life get an Alice in Wonderland twist here. There is no easy way in this pigeonhole-happy society to consider Eads and his chosen family, but this compelling documentary guarantees you'll work at it.

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Sonia Mansfield

San Francisco Examiner

Mar 12

Focuses on the sweet and loving relationship of Robert and Lola. Southern Comfort is a compassionate and intimate look at these people's lives.

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David Sterritt

Christian Science Monitor

Mar 11

3/4

This capably made HBO documentary takes an understated and compassionate look at a subject that is often sensationalized in other contexts.

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Marshall Fine

Journal News (Westchester, NY)

Mar 11

3.5/4

And who are they? In essence, people like anyone else, with the kind of goals in life we all have: happiness, connection, a sense of self, and a feeling of belonging in the world.

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05/08/2013

Intimate look at a very tough subject.

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07/17/2012

Kate Davis' documentary shines a light on a corner of the world that turns out to be no different than that of the mainstream.

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02/20/2012

This film felt more like a love story with tribulations than an activist documentary. I wish more people made documentaries like this. Sometimes just letting a story tell itself has a much deeper impact than preaching.

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11/21/2010

Extremely sad film about a transman dying of ovarian cancer and his small adopted family of trans people. the film lacks context- about how these people survive in the conservative rural south and how they attain (or are rejected) medical treatment. lola remains an enigma as well. the film's generosity towards its subjects is appropriate given the sensitive, painful subject matter.

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07/16/2010

Heartbreaking story about the female-to-male transsexual Robert Eads that suffered from ovarian cancer and was refused treatment by 20 different doctors only becuase of his transsexuality. Instead of worrying about his cancer he lives the remainder of his life with his two families - his biological family with parents, two sons and a grandson and his manufactured one consisting of his two female-to-male "sons" Max and Cass and his girlfriend Lola, a male-to-female transsexual that he's, ironically, falling head over heels in love with. I don't know how to express how sad it is that everyone can't be accepted as they are and for who they are. You know what the worst thing is? This is a documentary. This happened.

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03/11/2010

Had to watch this for a comm class. It was sad in parts, but very offensive to me. I wouldn't have watched this in any other situation. I don't know quite what to say.

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Kate Davis

Director

Robert Eads

Self

Maxwell Scott Anderson

Self

Corissa Anderson

Self

Cas Piotrowski

Self

Lola Cola

Self

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Synopsis

Kate Davis's award-winning documentary chronicles the final four seasons in the life of Robert Eads, a female-to-male transsexual dying of ovarian cancer in rural Georgia. Striking a balance between Robert's biological family -- mother, father, sons and grandson -- and his "chosen" family of transgender friends including Maxwell, Cas and Lola Cola, his male-to-female transsexual partner, Davis documents Eads's final days at the Southern Comfort Conference, a national transgender gathering.

Director: Kate Davis
Producer: Kate Davis
Distributor: HBO Theatrical Documentary
Production Co: Q-Ball Productions
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Feb 21, 2001, Original
Release Date (Streaming): May 3, 2017
Runtime: 1h 30m