Whether you are a writer, painter, visual artist, graphic artist, photographer, graffiti connoisseur and the like, telling stories, communicating through a chosen medium is what you do. Argentine filmmaker Julia Solomonoff is the director of The Last Summer of La Boyita, a film that has broken my heart
in the best possible way. I have seen few directors maintain such delicacy while effectively telling stories about subjects so contextually controversial.
Solomonoff is no stranger to the director's chair. She teaches film directing at Columbia University, New York, where she earned an MFA in film. Her directorial debut, Sisters (2005) opened at the Toronto International Film Festival. She has produced a number of films for other directors, and was first assistant director on Walter Salles' Motorcycle Diaries (2004). The Last Summer of La Boyita is her most recent film.
The film focuses on a little girl named Jorgelina who is played by Guadalupe Alonso. Her sister Luciana (María Clara Merendino) has just entered puberty and predictably seeks independence, solitude and privacy from her indulgent younger sibling, Jorgelina. Addressing the disturbance to the equilibrium of their relationship, Jorgelina in turn leaves behind Luciana as well as la boyita, the little van that bore witness to the girls' secrets and confessions. Instead, Jorgelina chooses to spend the summer in the countryside on her father's farm. There she meets a farm boy and jockey named Mario, played by Nicolás Treise, who she attaches herself to as a playmate.
Mario has already started his transition into adolescence and it is eventually revealed that all is not "normal". Mario has female sex organs. At birth, medical professionals misidentified an enlarged clitoris for a penis and recorded the birth of a male baby. As his body changes and he continues to grow breasts and experience menstruation, he also suffers abuse and neglect from his father who does not fully comprehend the possibilities and ramifications of such a medical situation.
The film climaxes at the races where Mario has to face tradition and test his manhood. If he wins, he has the chance to quell the growing prejudice of the other boys as well as prove to his father that he does possess worth, no matter what is happening underneath his clothes.
Through the friendship between Mario and Jorgelina, the beauty, kindness and innocence of children and childhood are portrayed. The Last Summer of La Boyita is both a coming of age tale as well as a tribute to those qualities of pre pubescence. Set in the magnificent Pampas prairies, the film is visually stunning. More than that, it is emotionally exquisite. Somonoff's telling of this story though Jorgelina's eyes, as she attempts to understand what Mario is going through, is quite masterful and the bittersweet nuances of the protagonists' experiences finds a way into your heart and mind and will stay with you for days.
Solomonoff is no stranger to the director's chair. She teaches film directing at Columbia University, New York, where she earned an MFA in film. Her directorial debut, Sisters (2005) opened at the Toronto International Film Festival. She has produced a number of films for other directors, and was first assistant director on Walter Salles' Motorcycle Diaries (2004). The Last Summer of La Boyita is her most recent film.
The film focuses on a little girl named Jorgelina who is played by Guadalupe Alonso. Her sister Luciana (María Clara Merendino) has just entered puberty and predictably seeks independence, solitude and privacy from her indulgent younger sibling, Jorgelina. Addressing the disturbance to the equilibrium of their relationship, Jorgelina in turn leaves behind Luciana as well as la boyita, the little van that bore witness to the girls' secrets and confessions. Instead, Jorgelina chooses to spend the summer in the countryside on her father's farm. There she meets a farm boy and jockey named Mario, played by Nicolás Treise, who she attaches herself to as a playmate.
Mario has already started his transition into adolescence and it is eventually revealed that all is not "normal". Mario has female sex organs. At birth, medical professionals misidentified an enlarged clitoris for a penis and recorded the birth of a male baby. As his body changes and he continues to grow breasts and experience menstruation, he also suffers abuse and neglect from his father who does not fully comprehend the possibilities and ramifications of such a medical situation.
The film climaxes at the races where Mario has to face tradition and test his manhood. If he wins, he has the chance to quell the growing prejudice of the other boys as well as prove to his father that he does possess worth, no matter what is happening underneath his clothes.
Through the friendship between Mario and Jorgelina, the beauty, kindness and innocence of children and childhood are portrayed. The Last Summer of La Boyita is both a coming of age tale as well as a tribute to those qualities of pre pubescence. Set in the magnificent Pampas prairies, the film is visually stunning. More than that, it is emotionally exquisite. Somonoff's telling of this story though Jorgelina's eyes, as she attempts to understand what Mario is going through, is quite masterful and the bittersweet nuances of the protagonists' experiences finds a way into your heart and mind and will stay with you for days.