Six shorts with a "coming out" theme but little else in common. A New York lesbian couple visit the rural Christian family but have to suppress their feelings as the parents are clearly resistant (almost to the point of hostility). The yearning and frustration is palpable, as is the wilful refusal to contemplate diversity.
Three terrific stories follow. A chaotic woman returns to her home village just as two of her ex-lovers, one male, one female, are about to wed. This was ctpring out for further exploration, and would expand into a solid full-length feature.
A young woman experiments with her masculine side. A trans youth is courted by another outsider, but neither seems able to speak openly. The two sit well alongside each other. Maria / 'Victor' perhaps wants too much, while Alma has a supportive mother but seems terrified of peer-group rejection. Her suitor hints that he knows, but both hold back from being open.
The last two tales are less convincing, but more experimental. 'Disco Inferno' is a pastiche of 70s sexploitation and devil-worship, but the effort to make it look dated simply distracts from an already garbled narrative. 'The Foreign Body' is speculative fiction about the evolution of the first man without nipples, but there is not enough material to sustain even its short runtime.
Only the first film is fully in English; the remainder in Spanish or Portuguese, and one in a mix. Engaging throughout, generally thoughtful and empathetic.
Three terrific stories follow. A chaotic woman returns to her home village just as two of her ex-lovers, one male, one female, are about to wed. This was ctpring out for further exploration, and would expand into a solid full-length feature.
A young woman experiments with her masculine side. A trans youth is courted by another outsider, but neither seems able to speak openly. The two sit well alongside each other. Maria / 'Victor' perhaps wants too much, while Alma has a supportive mother but seems terrified of peer-group rejection. Her suitor hints that he knows, but both hold back from being open.
The last two tales are less convincing, but more experimental. 'Disco Inferno' is a pastiche of 70s sexploitation and devil-worship, but the effort to make it look dated simply distracts from an already garbled narrative. 'The Foreign Body' is speculative fiction about the evolution of the first man without nipples, but there is not enough material to sustain even its short runtime.
Only the first film is fully in English; the remainder in Spanish or Portuguese, and one in a mix. Engaging throughout, generally thoughtful and empathetic.
