"XXY"
Director: Lucía Puenzo
Trevor's Rating: 4.75 / 5 Stars

Okay, so I know giving it 4.75 stars is kind of ridiculous. This film was really pretty amazing! The movie opens with a husband (Ramiro), wife (Erika), and son (Alvaro) coming to visit another couple -- a scientist and conservationist who studies turtles (Kraken), his wife (Suli), and their daughter, Alex, in Uruguay. The relationship between these folks isn't made entirely clear, but we learn very quickly that Ramiro is a surgeon, and that Alex isn't your average young girl.

Indeed, we find out that Alex is intersex, and the family is struggling as she rebels against her medical interventions to prevent her body from "masculinizing" -- that is, to prevent her from growing facial hair and other secondary sex characteristics. Unbeknownst to her husband Kraken, Suri has invited the couple down to talk to Alex about the potential surgical interventions she could have to remove her penis.

Well, drama of course ensues. Alex and Alvaro flirt from the start, in a kind of love-hate, caustic way. It's cute teenage confusion and angst in full bloom, and both actors do a tremendous job. To the audience in the Castro theatre's surprise, when they finally end up making out and getting naked, Alex flips Alvaro over and fucks him. Holy canoli! I have to say, whenever I see people just "stick it in" in movies without lube or prep, I chuckle. Please! As if it were so easy. But in any case, the scene is hot -- until Alex's father walks in and catches his daughter fucking a boy. Talk about a mindbender.

This film is touching and beautifully done. The acting is superb. The cinematography is fabulous. It's a real gem. I deduct 1/4 of a star mostly because I was a bit put off by the overt political jockeying done to make the surgeon look like a demon. It's a bit over the top. In a beautifully acted scene with his son (played by a wonderfully talented Martín Piroyansky), Alvaro tearfully asks his father if he thinks he has any talent. His father replies, simply, "No." Alavro goes on, asking if "One day you think I could" - but his father cuts him off, saying "No, No. I don't." This just after his son tells his dad "I would kill to have your talent." I mean, really! It was awful, and clearly included in the story to paint the father as malicious and callous as possible. I wasn't impressed.

Again, my friends were upset by the brief inclusion of a scene in which a group of boys sexually harass and almost rape Alex. My friend Jackson was particularly peeved, complaining that it seemed like any film made about genderqueer folks was seemingly obliged to include the sexual violence trope. And it certainly is a trope that filmmakers can use to pull at certain strings, and to tap into a dominant cultural narrative on what it means to be gendered or sexed differently.

We got into a lengthy heated conversation about the politics of representation, and more generally the problems that come when you make a political argument from a victimized position. By simply representing or claiming that victimhood, you are in a way reinscribing that violence and making it difficult for people in your social group to become anything other than victims. This is an age old question when it comes to identity politics (see Wendy Brown's dense essay on this, "Wounded Attachments"), and I'm not sure there's a good answer. I complained similarly about last year's Frameline flick, "Holding Trevor," which featured a woman contracting HIV after one sexual encounter after a party. Highly improbable. Possible? Sure. Probable? No.

What is the solution to this problem? One the one hand, tropes and common narratives exist because they reflect many of our experiences. On the other hand, they limit the stories that are culturally legible, obscuring experiences that do not fit this mold. In the end, I felt like "XXY" made some daring moves in its storyline (Alvaro not only lets Alex fuck him, but he enjoys it and wants more!). I don't particularly blame the director for including the violent scene, but I understand Jackson's frustrations.

In any case, I can't recommend this film enough. It's beautiful. Make it a point to go out and see it!