Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Voyage formula for 2011
Last summer of La Boyita
Latin American Films were always the highlight of International Film Festival of Kerala. This time, in the 15th edition of IFFK, the movie which bragged the Rajata Chakoram (silver pheasant)award was “Last summer of La Boyita”. Last Summer of La Boyita is an Argentinan movie, directed by Julia Solomonoff. The movie portrays certain facts which are often considered as stigma by mainstream film industry.
Nature always treats men and women in different manner. When women always have milestones in the various transitions of life, men never have it. Men often slip into their adolescence without knowing when exactly they became an adult. What if the symptoms of transitions started appearing on a boy?
This movie traverses through the life of two people – a boy (Mario) and a girl (Luciana), who are in their early days of adolescence. The transitions that adolescence makes in their lives are viewed through the viewpoint of the younger sister (Jorgelina) of Luciana.
Jorgelina realises that Luciana no more considers her as a playmate and she is being treated as a nuisance. Annoyed by the treatment meted out to her, she decided to take a break and moves out with her father to his farm in the Argnetinan countryside to spend the summer. Here, she befriends the boy – Mario. Mario is often too busy with his daily chores – assisting his aging father, training for his horse racing premiere- that he has little time for childish recreation.
As the story advances, Jorgelina comes across a fact in Mario’s personal life that his parents always had preferred to deny. Mario shares with her the secret that he's been raised as a boy, but he appears to have the sex organs of both a male and a female, and he's not sure what he is and what he should do about it.
The Last Summer of La Boyita is an intimate and emotional tale that delightfully unravels the mysteries of sexuality amongst youth. It’s a visually stunning movie and the young actors have given brilliant performances.