This film is a genuinely moving story about courage, identity and inner freedom, centered on an intersex person trying to figure out who they really are. The fact that an actual intersex actor was cast in the lead role is genuinely worth applauding. It is apparently a remake of a classic film of same name that came out in 1972. Since I have not seen the film, I really have references to compare, which is good. Set in Spain, we meet Adela, a woman in her twenties and the only child of a conservative couple living in a small provincial town. Her days are mostly spent at the family antique shop, and her whole life has been shaped by her mother's overprotectiveness and total silence around her intersex condition, something she's faced real social discrimination for. Despite all the restrictions placed on her, she finds odd little pockets of normalcy in her life, and her closest connection is a gay priest, basically the only person she feels she can talk to freely. That quiet routi...
Nick, a young teenager lives a life that revolves around eating, sleeping and tagging empty wall space in Portland’s bleak industrial downtown. He shoplifts paints, fruits whatever he needs and ends up sleeping on streets many time. An unexpected bond established with Jesse, who is from a more affluent home but is also very much into graffiti. They tag together, photographing each other in front of their joint efforts and stay together. Jesse even advances sex to Nick one night but after that things change. Jesse rejects his further advances and decamps to Seattle. When Nick finds him, Jesse tells him that they are two different people which surprises Nick and he reminds Jesse that it was he who initiated sex. He walks away and continues to live his life.
It felt like the film maker wanted to more celebrate the whole art of graffiti and started to come up with a story narrative around it. The painting scenes are broken down into multiple angles in a way that celebrates the act that gives meaning to Nick’s life with details of him painting all over, taking photographs[hs and generally appreciating his work. The film likely got place in a few gay film festivals, which is also weird because barring that one night of hastily and sudden sex event between the two boys, nothing about the film screams queer. The two boys are good looking and honestly decent actors. It's the subject that gives them no opportunity to shine. Besides this, the film is mostly just bad tags, badly costumed "undercover" cops, some skateboarding, and a train ride. This is one of those art films that just stay as art and hardly find any takers who appreciate it. This is a film that has no plot to begin with and not even a proper ending. The movie just crawls back into its shell of silence and dies. A forgettable movie. (1.5/10)
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