Review by Vinoo
Language : Spanish
Director : Julia Solomonoff
It is a very special coming of age film and a brilliant look at gender sensibilities and adolescence. Jorgelina (Guadalupe Alonso) is a young girl who adores her older adolescent sister, Luciana. Luciano, who is ‘becoming a woman’ no longer enjoys the company of her kid sister and teams up with her friend, Elba, and together snub Jorgelina. All they have time for is talk about boys, sex, brassieres and other topics little girls they think should be kept out of. Jorgelina finds all this a bit silly and spends most of her time by herself in her dad’s caravan, Boyita. She accompanies him to the farm-side where she meets the shy and reclusive Mario (Nicholas Treise) who has an amazing talent for horse-riding. They hit it off and soon enough can’t live without each other. The two of them spend a lot of time together, talking, walking, lending books and of course horse-riding. Mario is ‘breaking in’(a new terminology I picked up) horses and to show he is a man he will have to take on the macho men of the place. Mario is meanwhile grappling with changes of his own, a closely guarded secret. The casting (by Maria Laura Berch) is so good, Mario’s face tells us the state he is in and Jorgelina her state of mind. After a point Mario’s parents can no longer hide the secret about Mario’s sexuality. Mario’s face tells a lot about the dilemma he is in : a mind that is desperately trying to prove to himself and the world, but a body that has a mind of its own. It has a brilliant climax with wonderful performances by the main characters in particular. Here is a clip so you know what I am talking about.
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While it has been classified in the category of LSBT films it works independent of it, which I think is an achievement. There was another Argentine film on the subject, ‘XXY’, but I must say this one is so subtle and beautiful. Brilliant cinematography by Lucio Bonelli and Julia Solomonoff adds to the beauty of the film.
Also watched Jules Dassin’s ‘Rififi’ all over again. Nowhere near as good as ‘Night and the city’ but a good watch nevertheless. Hope to revisit ‘The naked city’, ‘Brute force’ and ‘Never on Sunday’. Looking forward to the Copa America 2011 final this Sunday between Uruguay and Paraguay.
Useless trivia : Julia Solomonoff, an Argentine film-maker, has directed films like ‘Ahora’, ‘Hermanas / Sisters’ before directing ‘The last summer of La Boyita’. She has also been First Assistant Director on the film ‘The motorcycle diaries’.
‘The last summer of La Boyita’ is scripted by Julia Solomonoff and has Augustin Almodovar and Pedro Almodovar as Executive Producers.
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