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GreenCine Daily - I grew up in the era of the term “hermaphrodite,” which I now learn - via Lucía Puenzo’s mostly fascinating and deeply-felt movie XXY - is politically incorrect. The term used should be “intersex.” Until I was well into adulthood, I thought that hermaphrodites were more legendary than real. My movie experience of them came mostly from crass, sleazy and enormously entertaining films like Larry Cohen’s God Told Me To. (Aren’t most of Larry Cohen films crass, sleazy and enormously entertaining?)
Puenzo’s XXY is something else. It begins in media res, and, in fact, ends there, too. But, oh, in the middle of the middle, what people, events and feelings do we meet, witness and experience! Puenzo is simply terrific at guiding us into her characters’ emotional states - even though we don’t always know what is causing these states. But because this writer/director puts us so quickly and deeply into the feelings of her people, it is difficult not to respond with empathy, as we slowly learn what is going on, and why.
XXY is a co-production of Argentina, Spain and France. Set in a quiet Uruguayan coastal town where some locals fish while others try to halt illegal fishing, the movie involves two “outsider” families, as well as some of these locals. The late-adolescent children of the “townies” and outsiders are the main characters, and the central dilemma of the film involves one of the kids. The reaction of the others to her dilemma provokes what minimal action occurs over the very few days that the movie encompasses. Even so, XXY rivets.
In the central role of the young girl, Alex, Inés Efron is splendid - angry, impatient, alternately pleading then pushing away - and she is ably abetted by two fine young actors, Luciano Nobile and especially Martin Piroyansky as Alvaro. The adults are peripheral, but being adults, they do control things to a large extent, and their own needs and wavering feelings make for some rich, if frustrating, moments. Of the fine quartet of adult actors, Ricardo Darín (Nine Queens, Son of the Bride, The Aura) is the best-known on these shores, and he does a fine job portraying Alex’s confident, sad and infinitely caring dad. Her less confident but equally caring mom is given all the right mood swings by Valeria Bertucelli, while Carolina Pelleritti and Germán Palacios play the other set of parents whose son has his own problems - which are suddenly front and center due to his proximity to Alex… [Full Story]
