XXY (2007)

You won't be disappointed!

Pretty Good

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Alex and her parents, Kraken and Suli live in a small fishing town on the coast of Uruguay. Alex is an intersex individual who has recently stopped taking her hormonal medication which suppresses her masculine characteristics. The film opens with Suli contacting a former close friend of hers, Erika, who along with her surgeon husband Ramiro and adolescent son Álvaro will be coming to stay with Alex's family for the next few days. Unknown to Alex and Kraken, Suli hopes that this visit will lead to Ramiro operating on Alex to remove her male sex organs. From the onset, there is an attraction between Alex and Álvaro and their relationship continues to advance despite Alex's aggressive proposition upon their initial meeting that they have sex, which Álvaro declines. The film follows their relationship as well as the relationship between Alex and her father as Alex is confronted with society's demands that she conform to gender expectations and Álvaro discovers his homosexuality.The film is beautifully shot with a lighting that makes the colors rich and lively. The shots are exciting, intriguing and at times overwhelming much like the story they tell. The film beautifully navigates the experience of sexual maturity for a person who occupies the space somewhere between our expectation of male and female. An unbreakable familial bond is shown between Alex and her father, Kraken, which only grows stronger in the face of adversity. Puenzo directs with acknowledgment of the audience and society's curiosity about intersex individuals and refuses to allow Alex to become a spectacle in her own story. Rather than shying away from the topic or other controversial themes, Puenzo dives head into the confusion one faces during puberty, the excitement of new love, and the danger that people like Alex face in a society where being abnormal makes one a target for violence. Overall, XXY is a beautiful depiction of a complicated love that will remain on the mind of a viewer long after the screen goes dark.

XXY is a difficult movie to watch. It is violent and intrusive and strange and uncomfortable. The bleak seashores and small, cramped house, coupled with low, blue-green lighting and dirty windows and mirrors make the viewer feel as though they should not be there. We are seeing into the secretive life of a small family that has intentionally separated itself from the busyness of Buenos Aires in order to gain a sense of privacy. This is part of what makes it so interesting; it feels very intimate. There are a number of scenes in which Alex, an underage teenager, is naked from the waist up. While this seems inappropriate and uncomfortable initially, I think that it makes the audience question why we feel the need to sexualize and censor a teenager's body in the first place. The ambiguity of Alex's sex and gender lead us to another question: would we be uncomfortable if Alex looked more masculine? What combination of age, nudity, and gender makes us feel as though their body should not be seen? The film does not answer these questions. It also leaves a number of other ambiguities. Alex''s gender, for instance, is not conclusively stated. At the end, they decide that there is "nada que elegir" - nothing to choose. Although it is clear that they will not grow to "be a woman", Alex doesn't choose to "become a man" either. What is determined is that they are done trying to be something they're not. They are done taking pills, getting operations, and moving around the country to find some unachievable fresh start. What is determined is that Alex's parents will be there to support them no matter what they choose. This is the message of the movie. Life is uncomfortable, ambiguous, and hard to place. Gender is complex. Family is complex. Identities change. What we can all do is to simply be ourselves, respect others, and protect our loved ones. XXY is a highly intricate look into a seemingly unusual situation. It is not a feel-good movie; instead, it makes us think.

It's a finely executed film about gawky Iñes Efron. She's a fifteen-year-old girl, caught in the middle of her growth spurt, who has to decide whether to keep taking her "corticoids" and remain female, or to quit taking them, undergo surgery, and "masculinize." I think the title -- XXY -- may be misleading. My understanding is that XXY individuals are males but perhaps with less facial hair and smaller penises, and they're usually infertile.Efron is definitely a young girl -- and what a girl! She's not beautiful but is intensely attractive. From certain angles, with her short haircut, she could almost pass for a high-school boy in, say, 1970. But mostly she looks like the disturbed girl she truly is. She has one of the most expressive faces I've seen in years.The movie makes it clear that she has the external reproductive organs of both sexes. There is no full frontal nudity, though there's a surprising amount of topless footage, but she's seen urinating on the beach, standing up and facing away from the camera. And when she gets horny, her impulse is to sodomize the boy she's with. If I'm not mistaken, the penis in cases like this is not much more than an enlarged clitoris. There is still some physical material that's left unclear, but it's nothing compared to Hillary Swank's dalliance with Chloë Sevigny in "Boys Don't Cry." The movie begins a bit sluggishly because we're not immediately introduced to the characters and don't know exactly what the hell is going on. Over time, we gather that two families share a beach house where they try to protect and heal endangered species of sea turtles. Efron's father is a butcher, and he has a face made for the camera.The other family head is a doctor, a thoughtful and quiet man, who suggests that surgery would solve Efron's problem. The penis would be removed. (Ewww.) But that's kind of beside the point. The point is that Efron must make up her own mind. Her present state is intolerable. Those who know about her condition ridicule her. Some young rascals try to rape her, using what there is of her vagina. She decides to discard her pills and grow up into a man. It's a tough row to hoe, no matter what choice she makes.It was shot at a remote beach location in Argentina. I somehow always figured Argentina for semi-tropical climate and plenty of sunshine, but this beach cottage is pretty lonely and the photographer effectively captures the almost sepulchral moodiness of the place. The wind moans, the sand is an uninviting color, there is a constant overcast, and it looks chilly all the time. We could be looking at the Baltic Sea.There are some elements of the story that I'm kind of skipping over for reasons of space and time. Efron sodomizes her young friend, who is attracted to her, and afterwards he admits that he enjoyed it. This kid deserves some scrutiny. How about no surgery for Efron and some surgery for her boyfriend, replacing his penis with a blind pouch. It works.But if some of it is vague, or even medically absurd, there's no escaping the fact that it's fine film, made for a mature audience.

Images, confusion, identity search, fear and seeds of different kind of love. A hermaphrodite and her family. And the others. A doctor and his family. Few days together.Conversation and shadows. And evening of words. A teenager, a girl and the people. Escapes as spider web and the travel to "normality". A poem. About a minority, essence of small lives, parents and children. Few slices about differences as roots of everything. Ines Efron as a strange Alex for who the life is field of obscure country. A question mark. A storm in temple. It is more than a film. It is analysis of desire of happiness. In basic , harsh words. A drama and rolls of silence. Behind definitions.