Premiered in Brazil in 2019, it was nominated for a Teddy Award at the 2020 Berlin Film Festival or 70th Berlinale. It won an award at the 2020 Outfest Los Angeles. It was also up for a 2021 GLAAD Media Award. It's been available for months online and I'm only now getting around to it, but it's the perfect film to spotlight for Pride Month. Reportedly, it's the first Brazilian film to portray a transgender character in a positive and relatable manner. There have been quite a few Brazilian LGBTQ films over the past decade or so. One of them could have actually beaten this film to the punch in that regard.
Don't Call Me Son (2016) is a Brazilian film that won a Teddy Award at the 66th Berlinale. Yet, that film never confirmed if its protagonist was transgender or gender nonconforming.
Bixa Travesty (2018) is another Braziliam film that won a Teddy Award at the 68th Berlinale and it was a documentary definitely about a transgender musician but who did provocative things like perform in the nude.
The key word in the previous statement is probably "relatable." Instead of being a provocateur, this film is about an average teenager in a sense who is simply trying to fit in at a new school, be accepted in class, make friends and be happy. It's the most common in coming-of-age stories as one can get, which makes this film absolutely relatable. It also makes this film somewhat unremarkable. It's normal, which for a transgender youth character is in itself a giant step. It's a first step and hopefully one that will pave the way for more films about transgender youth.
Anna Celestino Mota stars as Alice Júnior, a transgender girl who is a teenager still attending school. She lives with her single father. Her mother died when she was 11. Her father is a successful perfume maker, which provides him enough money to have a fancy apartment or condo in a skyscraper along the coast of Brazil in the city of Recife. Alice has lived a pretty comfortable life and a bit of a privileged life. Yes, she hasn't had her mother, but her father has been nothing but loving and supportive. Alice being trans has seemingly not been too much of an issue from external sources. As such, she's able to be a star on social media, making online videos about her life and her love of makeup and fashion. She's like the Brazilian version of Jazz Jennings.
Things change when her father announces that they have to move out to the country for a brief time for his job, which is to create a new perfume out of pine cones. This requires uprooting Alice from her friends and her comfort. She's then put into a conservative school where there's a strict dress code. Instead of flamboyant or extravagant clothing, she has to wear a drab uniform. She also doesn't have the support or community she had before. Instead, she has quite a few bullies or kids who just have a negative attitude toward her.
Surya Amitrano plays Taísa, a fellow student who is a blond girl with tattoos. She's not one of the students who bullies or gives Alice a hard time. She's a bit of a loner. She's not a total outcast. She has friends and even is dating. She simply doesn't go along with the conservative mindset that is possibly a majority at the school. That mindset could just be a very vocal minority, but Taísa seems more liberal and punk rock in her thinking and way of being.
If I had to compare this film, directed by Gil Baroni and co-written by Luiz Bertazzo and Adriel Nizer Silva, I would compare it to Bo Burnham's Eighth Grade (2018). That film is about a student who makes videos on YouTube and struggles with body issues, as she struggles to fit in, culminating in a somewhat climactic pool party. That's essentially what happens here in Baroni's narrative. Baroni's film even has a somewhat climactic pool party. The film is good in showing specifically what a teenage, transgender girl might experience. From deadnaming to misgendering with wrong pronouns to insecurities in an environment like a swimming pool, this feels like an accurate and authentic string of experiences.
Yet, the film isn't mired in trauma and showing only the hardships. Alice is strong and at times a joyous person. Baroni utilizes visual effects like animation on screen to aide to the joyous and fun aspect to Alice's nature. The film also incorporates some humor and bits of comedy, such as through Viviane, played by Thaís Schier. Viviane is a geeky or nerdy girl who works on the school's newspaper. She's very talkative, almost annoyingly so, but she's easy to get along with, even if it gets on Alice's nerves. Viviane's presence is just a funny bit of business for this film among others.
This film remains mainly a slice-of-life with no real plot. The plot, such that it is, involves Alice kissing someone for the first time. Ostensibly, she's a virgin, but she's not trying to have sex, not yet. She's mostly just concerned with kissing someone with whom she's interested romantically. She does become interested in someone romantically. It's Bruno, played by Matheus Moura. Bruno identifies as a Black Brazilian. He has an Afro and loves to photo-bomb Alice's selfies. He's a bit ignorant to trans issues, but he seems like a good guy. The only problem is that he already has a girlfriend. The film makes it a somewhat predictable love triangle, but it actually has surprising results that made the film refreshing and end on a good note.
Rated TV-MA.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 27 mins.
Available on Netflix.
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