it’s a crayon ponyfish!

last night we watched city of god. brazilian movie based on a true story about a kid growing up in a favela in rio de janiero… it was really good. i had been wanting to watch it for years. it was really violent. but great…
speaking of brazil, i think we might take a trip there in november?!

I just watched a new Argentinian movie called XXY. It’s a very tender story is about Alex, who is 15 years old and who is both sort of male and sort of female, learning her (his) own sexuality, struggling with loving parents’ expectations and facing curiosity and abuse from others. (S)he lives with her parents in an isolated area on the coast of Uruguay. The beach is beautiful and I thought the minimal, blustery setting was an apt setting for Alex’s sullen and endearing and willful personality. Part of the plot follows Alex’s sexual relationship with Alvaro, a boy whose family visits Alex’s parents. I also liked the relationship between Alex and his(her) marine biologist father, who is trying to overcome his own expectations and understand who Alex is growing up to be. The dialogue is sparse but important, so I think I might have missed some key points since I was watching in Spanish without subtitles. But I think I got most of it and I thought it was really good. There’s a story synopsis here and a preview here.