Director: Diego Lerman
Starring: Tatiana Saphir, Carla Crespo, Veronica Hassan, Beatriz Thibaudin, Marķa Merlino, Marcos Ferrante

- Reviewed by Vickie

Anyone wondering what's wrong with lesbian cinema need only look to this Argentinian import, which soundly drives another nail into the coffin of the genre, for an answer. Want a happy ending? Want a good story with positive portrayals of gay women? Maybe just some broken stereotypes?

You won't find it here.

The story opens as two young, ballsy, butchy female lovers—Mao and Lenin (I don't even care enough to find out which actress played whom)—bully an overweight girl named Marcia. They want sex, she (being straight) doesn't so, as with all positive, functional relationships, they kidnap her at knifepoint. Very nice. Mao's the one in charge, and she relishes coming on to Marcia, despite Marcia's protests that she's not actually gay. Um, nevermind the fact that she's BEEN KIDNAPPED!

The two thuggy girls then decide to take their captive on a nice little road trip to visit an elderly friend. As they go, the three become a little more friendly, but Mao's mind-f**k of Marcia (and pretty much everyone else in the film) continues throughout. They stop at the home of an old woman, who lets them stay for several days. Now, the three girls are pals! No mention is ever made of Marcia's family (save for one phonecall home later in the film) and no one ever questions the fact that the trio have apparently gone on "holiday" with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Could Marcia's perpetual "deer in the headlights" look be a clue? Evidently, no.

The dysfunction continues to startling degrees and I kept waiting for Marcia to grow a backbone and leave. Or stand up for herself. Something. Anything! But no.

So let's recap: we have the stereotypical butch lesbians. Who are also knife-wielding kidnappers. Who seem to know nothing about how to function in any kind of normal relationship or how to treat anyone with the teeniest hint of decency, and who force themselves on straight women. The character of Lenin, the more butch of the two, is at least somewhat sympathetic and a little more likable. But Mao is like a badly drawn caricature of a mean, selfish, obnoxious tough girl.

I'm sorry, maybe something was lost in the translation of this film. Maybe it had a deeper meaning I didn't get or maybe this is what life is like in Argentina (don't think so). I have no idea why the two leads had to be women in the first place, and can only guess it was for shock value.

Well, I was shocked all right. Shocked that I wasted almost two hours of my life on this disappointing movie.

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