Pulse (2017 film)

Being straight and loved by girls was always Olly's dream, a gay and disabled teenager who lives with a straight roommate. His desperation leads him into a clinic, where he pursues body transplantation and becomes a straight woman. Less he knows that following this body swap not only his roommate will be attractive to him (point for the body swap), but also his girl friends (who will stop at nothing from teaching him how to put the make-up on and to teach him how to flirt with the guys).

Pulse's screenplay was written by Daniel Monks who based it on his experiences as a teen struggling to fit it. According to an interview conducted by Accessible Arts, the screenwriter and actor became quadriplegic at the age of 11 and the same year was diagnosed with hemiparesis.[2]

Pulse was in production for seven years and was shot in Western Australia.[3]

The rights for Pulse were brought by Oration Films to be released in the United States.[1] However, it was Dark Star Pictures which announced its release via video-on-demand on 2 June 2020.[4]

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 86% based on 7 critics, with an average rating of 6.9/10.[5]

Lochley Shaddock of FilmInk said "With a flair for the visual and aural, and featuring solid performances, Pulse does not answer enough of the questions that the film wants to raise".[6]

Norman Gidney of Film Threat gave the film a score of 6 out of 10 and wrote: "…poignant but problematic sci-fi film that explores youth, sexuality, and gender identity".[7]

Writing for the Australian Cinematographer Dash Wilson called the film "brave and ultimately unique" and added that "[the film] probably won't win any Oscars, [despite it] it is still an impressive feature debut by its female director/cinematographer".[3]

On 23 October 2017, Pulse became the first Australian film to win $20,000 USD prize at the Busan International Film Festival.[8]

• Pulse at IMDb