20.000 especies de abejas

Eight-year-old Cocó spends the summer at his maternal grandmother's house. There he does not fit in with the expectations of the rest and he does not understand why. Everyone around her insists on calling, but her but she does not recognize herself in that name or in the eyes of others. During that summer, not only does Cocó experience a transition, but also her disoriented mother and her conservating grandmother.

Winner of the Goya for best novel direction, original screenplay and supporting actress, this film '20.000 especies de abejas' is a luminous, realistic, moving portrait about the search for identity of an 8-year-old trans girl in which young actress Sofía Otero made history at the Berlinale in 2023, becoming the second youngest actress to win the Silver Bear for best performance. Here three women from three different generations face the doubts, fears and renunciations of the past. The story seems very long and at some moments boredom attacks and only thing that keeps some interest is the well-intentioned performances from Patricia López Arnaizi, an actress who never fails, the little Sofía Otero and Ane Gabaraín.

This tiring film belongs to a recent trend in Spanish cinema of making almost documentary films, made on low budgets, and dealing mostly with rural stories, or a few urban ones, and in which the lives of a few characters or families inserted in these environments are described . These films in which hardly anything happens are usually overlong and very heavy and dull, such as: "Verano 1993", "Las niñas", ¨Secaderos¨,¨O corno¨, "Libertad" and most of them made by women directors, and whose main representive is Carla Simón. All of them heavily financed by the national government, autonomous governments, ICAA, which is not understood as these films made in documentary style, with a camera over the shoulder and with minimal budgets, with no known actors, neither technicians, need so much public financing and state subsidies. This ¨20,000 especies de abejas¨ is no exception, which also turned out to be a tiresome film, with hardly any incidents, with simply contemplative scenes or meaningless and inconsequential conversations and mostly in Basque language.

The film was mediocrely directed by Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren , saving only the performances, and the observation of the work of raising bees, and the work of the starring in the workshop, otherwise all of this is heavy, and tremendously boring. Rating: 3.5/10.

Throughout the film, I grew increasingly amazed at the protagonist's acting - especially for an 8-year-old, she has an immense ability to convey deep emotions on a level I have not seen a child of that age do (at least not that I remember).

The movie itself was a bit of a surprise in the beginning, since I had not read the description and thought it would be a documentary about bees based on the title and picture at the festival I attended. Although very unsuitable for a morning screening considering the intense emotions and drama, it was an overall pleasant surprise that ingrained itself even deeper when I witnessed some of the audience crying and embracing one another after the screening. The film clearly speaks to what many can relate to in one way or another, and dramatizes this with a heart-throbbing achievement.

The movie is extremely well-paced. It let's you connect to the characters on a very deep level. We need more movies like this.

The shots are beautiful and the acting is superb, especially considering the lead act is eight years old. A movie I can whole-heartedly recommend to anyone with an open heart and a love for the things that make us human.

It's difficult to reach 600 words without any spoilers for people who have not watched the movie, but just take my word that it's totally worth a watch. Especially if you are into excellent acting that let's you forget that you're actually sitting in a cinema.

Only those who are going through or have gone through a topic similar to the one the film develops will agree with me that, of course, with different nuances, it reflects with astonishing fidelity the situations that come to light within the family when a topic of This nature happens, especially in people of such a young age. As a father of a transgender child, I can only thank the director of this film for having treated the issue in the way she did, with respect, placing all the members of this family as satellites, and pñacing in the center, Lucia. , because after all, the happiness of children is what really matters.

A slow paced family drama which soon becomes a poignant journey of dysphoria, self discovery and accepting one's true self; which has seldom been portrayed with such finesse in the silver screen.

Bit slow to begin with (honestly speaking, I was looking at my watch every 20 mins initially). But once the main storyline developed it never felt boring or slow.

Sofía Otero is outstanding for a 10 year old. So are the actors playing the characters of Mom and Grandma Aunt.

This would probably not go down well with many percentages of the audiences due to it's pacing, lack of suspense and action. But for a cinema lover this is a gem.