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XXY
R1 - America - Film Movement Review written by and copyright: James Teitelbaum (10th November 2008). |
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The Film
 Film Movement is a very cool subscription service that sends out a new DVD every month, each containing a complete indie film as well as a short film that often compliments the main feature in some way. "XXY" is year 6, film 5. Alex (Inés Efron) is a fifteen year old girl living with her family on the coast of Uruguay. She is precocious, spirited, feisty, a bit tough, and won't admit to how lonesome she is. Alex's father Kraken (Ricardo Darín) is some sort of hippie herpetologist - their house if full of iguanas and axolotls, and early in the film he goes to rescue an injured sea turtle. He moved his family to the coast to "be away from certain types of people": bullies mostly, in his own estimation. Alex has recently punched her male best friend Vando (Luciano Nóbile) in the nose, breaking it ("he had it coming to him"), creating a tension between the two families, which is made worse when it is revealed that Vando's father is a turtle poacher. Visiting Alex and her parents are an Argentinian surgeon named Ramiro (Germán Palacios), and his introverted and bookish teenage son Alvaro (Martín Piroyansky). The surgeon is visiting because he has a special interest in Alex: it seems as though that she has a fully functioning set of male genitalia. As she approaches puberty, her mixed chromosomes have started to become a problem (for example, she is in danger of growing a beard, and she is extremely horny, which is a bit confusing for her). Alex, to put things mildly, is a bit emotionally disturbed by her situation. On some instinctive level, she knows why the surgeon, whom she thinks of as a butcher, is visiting. She is not sure she likes the idea. Her frustration and confusion come to a peak as she rather aggressively seduces Alvaro, who does not know about her unusual anatomy. His discovery of Alex's true nature is traumatic for him, to say the least. After this event, things become a bit tense around the household. The very nature of this film is something that must be handled with the utmost delicacy and sensitivity in order to work. Within the large and venerable genre of Uraguayan hermaphrodite films, there are only a few that manage to avoid spiralling into self-parody. Fortunately, this is one of them. Director Lucía Puenzo has sculpted a unique drama that is sensitive without being mawkish, carefully outfitting each character with a complex arc. As Kraken, Ricardo Darín is particularly effective. Struggling with how to best help his child, he says very little, but manages to convey his turmoil in expressions and gestures. In many ways Kraken is the character who carries the film, even if he is one screen only half as much as Alex. Only a few viewers will be able to truly relate Alex's hermaphodism on a personal level, but as the sensitive but frustrated father of a child with an extremely special predicament, Kraken stands in for every father facing any sort of difficult parenting circumstances. Speaking of parents with predicaments, there is a subplot about the relationship between Ramiro and his son Alvaro that comes out of nowhere, seventy-five minutes into the eighty-four-minute film. The exchange between them informs Alvaro's character in an important way, but the tension between father and son needed to have been introduced much, much sooner. The scene feels like a clumsy - but necessary - addition.
Video
Aspect ratio is 1.85:1, anamorphic. The cinematography of Natasha Braier occasionally reaches for something special, but never quite gets there. A few shots seem almost ambitious, but that said, the camera throughout the film is a bit shaky for my tastes. Her work is captured well on this DVD, with a fairly consistent atmospheric bluish tint throughout, and deep blacks appropriate to the occasionally bleak mood of the film. I noticed nothing distracting compression-wise. Running time is 1:26:57, divided into 12 chapters.
Audio
"XXY" is presented in Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo with English subtitles. The seaside location means that most of the dialogue was probably redubbed in post production; the recordings are crisp and clear, with ambient effects blended skillfully. Original music by Andrés Goldstein and Daniel Tarrab is used sparingly and is never obtrusive.
Extras
Film Movement has included a short film, a promo spot and some theatrical trailers. Below is a closer look at these supplements. This month's short film is "The Pick-up Artist" which runs for 13 minutes 8 seconds, directed by Steffen Weinert. While trying to quietly sneak out of a woman's apartment after a one-night stand, a young man must contend with the woman's daughter. The little girl soon gets the better of the hapless fellow. After a bit of slapstick, things turn out well for everyone. Stella Artois Presents: "Swag" promo spot runs for 1 minute 1 seconds. This feature is presented as being sort of an additional short film, but it is really just a beer commercial. If corporate sponsorship is what is keeping this series going, then so be it; at least they are being tasteful about it. There's the film's original theatrical trailer which runs for 1 minute 20 seconds. The disc also includes the following bonus trailers: - "Noise" runs for 2 minutes 22 seconds. - "August the First" runs for 1 minute 57 seconds.
Overall
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