Anything's Possible

by Julian Spivey

Photo: Amazon Studios

Director: Billy Porter
Starring: Eva Reign, Abubakr Ali & Renee Elise Goldsberry 
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 1 hour & 38 minutes 

“Anything’s Possible,” the directorial debut from Emmy-winning actor Billy Porter, is a unique, modern take on the coming-of-age high school romance genre.

The film shows the budding relationship between Khal (Abubakr Ali) and Kelsa (Eva Reign). It’s your typical cute high school first love tale, but with some modernity thrown in because Kelsa is a trans girl. This makes “Anything’s Possible” something you likely wouldn’t have seen in a mainstream movie even a decade ago, but the brilliance of Porter’s film and Ximena Garcia Lecuona’s script is that the story doesn’t focus all that much on Kelsa being trans. Khal likes her for who she is, not as some in Kelsa’s inner circle suspect as some way to earn “woke” points. And this is the way “Anything’s Possible” should be told because today’s youth doesn’t seem to care about the kind of old school constructs past generations were so caught up in. If you like someone you like someone. How they were born doesn’t matter.

The chemistry between Reign and Ali, both in their film debuts, is instantaneous and you fall for this duo from the first time you see them together. The relationship will leave you with a smile on your face for the majority of their time together. Of course, there will be a hardship along the way or there wouldn’t be any drama to this movie, but it’s not something that wallops you over the head as a viewer.

It was kind of nice to see such an open-minded high school on film, though I don’t know if that’s just the way of the world today or if it’s a bit of Hollywood fantasy. I do know today’s youth is more open-minded than my high school was 15 years ago, but I bet in my neck of the woods in the middle of red country things might not be as easy for a couple like Kelsa and Khal. I hope the real world is a kind to couples like this as the one in this movie is.

The majority of the story is focused on Kelsa and Khal, but there are some nice supporting performances in the film from the always lovely Renee Elise Goldsberry as Kelsa’s loving mother Selene and some comic relief from Kelly Lamor Wilson as Kelsa’s best friend Chris and Manu Narayan and Miriam Laube as Khal’s parent Sasan and Selda.

It’s important for stories like “Anything’s Possible” to be told and I think it’s terrific that Porter, who I imagine is considered royalty among Hollywood’s LGBTQIA+ community, chose a story like this for his directorial debut. I can’t wait to see what kind of stories he has to tell in the future. I also hope for fruitful careers in acting for Reign and Ali, as well.

“Anything’s Possible” is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.