Alex is a fifteen-year old intersex teenager, living with "her" family on the remote coast of Uruguay, and dealing with the tribulations of growing up living on medication to control her sexual development, and the difficulties of forming relationships with her peers. Now, her mother has invited a friend's family to visit with an agenda involving possible sex reassignment surgery, but the surgeon friend also brings his introverted teenage son, who strikes up a bond of sorts with Alex.
Lucía Puenzo's sensitive and intelligent drama successfully holds a steady line between what could have tipped into lurid sensationalism or mawkish melodrama with understated grace. She elicits a clutch of fine and naturalistic performances from her largely inexperienced cast, most impressively from young Inés Efron in the central role of Alex, who convinces in an obviously tricky role with a totally believable and rounded character who contains elements of sullen teenager and aggressive tomboy without allowing either to define her.
From a seemingly rather esoteric set-up, Lucia's tale engages instead with the universal experiences of coming-of-age: Bullying, rejection, first love (of a sort), and the pain of feeling like an outsider, of being different... and that this is OK.
Rating: 4/5
Lucía Puenzo's sensitive and intelligent drama successfully holds a steady line between what could have tipped into lurid sensationalism or mawkish melodrama with understated grace. She elicits a clutch of fine and naturalistic performances from her largely inexperienced cast, most impressively from young Inés Efron in the central role of Alex, who convinces in an obviously tricky role with a totally believable and rounded character who contains elements of sullen teenager and aggressive tomboy without allowing either to define her.
From a seemingly rather esoteric set-up, Lucia's tale engages instead with the universal experiences of coming-of-age: Bullying, rejection, first love (of a sort), and the pain of feeling like an outsider, of being different... and that this is OK.
Rating: 4/5
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