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Entry tags:
XXY (2007, AR/ES/FR)
If I had to describe it in a single word I would probably go with "atmospheric", and the cinematography is pretty phenomenal and definitely makes good use of the South American coastline it's set on. It's very interesting that the main character, Alex, chooses not to have reconstructive surgery after all despite the pressure put on them by their mother. (Alex's father, a marine biologist, is largely in the dark about these plans and is portrayed a bit more sympathetically.)
Honestly, I thought the frequent outside focus on Alex's family members and their feelings would be off-putting given how much unneeded "development" is dedicated to the people who are related to intersex and trans people in most films concerning them, but I was actually pleasantly surprised by how much agency Alex ended up having in the end. Very strong character statement and narrative choice, having an intersex person make that sort of decision for themselves despite the outside pressures to conform one way or the other within social gender binaries. (Especially since part of the film also deals with the existence and input of other intersex people forced to undergo GRS against their own desires.)
Also of interest: the very influential 1990 documentary on New York City ball culture (which was largely comprised of drag queens, trans women, and other queer people of color), Paris Is Burning, is apparently all on youtube. See it in its entirety here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWuzfIeTFAQ
Honestly, I thought the frequent outside focus on Alex's family members and their feelings would be off-putting given how much unneeded "development" is dedicated to the people who are related to intersex and trans people in most films concerning them, but I was actually pleasantly surprised by how much agency Alex ended up having in the end. Very strong character statement and narrative choice, having an intersex person make that sort of decision for themselves despite the outside pressures to conform one way or the other within social gender binaries. (Especially since part of the film also deals with the existence and input of other intersex people forced to undergo GRS against their own desires.)
Also of interest: the very influential 1990 documentary on New York City ball culture (which was largely comprised of drag queens, trans women, and other queer people of color), Paris Is Burning, is apparently all on youtube. See it in its entirety here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWuzfIeTFAQ