natg520

Few works can take a subject which has been treated for centuries as a mysterious curiosity and bring new insights into the circumstance, or situation. New values. New appreciation. And with these, new mystery. This is a contemporary film, but it does not fail to recognize the mythical and historical threads of it's subject matter. Nor does it avoid metaphor and analogy. It is excellent because it succeeds in telling a particular story in a manner that reveals universal truths poetically. Rare for a movie to do that.

The film is ostensibly about a young hermaphrodite being brought up by liberal parents who unlike many others in their situation, have allowed their child to choose it's sex. This requires the choice to be deferred, of course, until the child is old enough to choose so it has become the central decision or theme in all of their lives. The film takes place at a time when this family's situation is coming to a crossroads. The mother has instigated a sort of reopening of the conversation about the child.

I won't say more about the plot. The originality of the film is in the way it creates mystery and suspense while generating empathy and understanding of the main character's predicament. The characters that surround Alex represent different aspects of how we as humans perceive the strange or unknowable. Tones of blue and ocean sounds like waves, birds, and rain combine with rustic interiors and village scenes of fisherman to create a timeless setting. It is in this somewhat removed and old world place that this revolutionary character comes of age.

Things like cellphones and computers are conspicuously left out of the film. Again, allowing the story to take on mythic proportions. The effect is that the character's actions are seen as both new and singular as well as all important for the viewer. Everything Alex does is a critical aspect of Alex's identity in the future. Or is it? That's the great thing about the film. It sets up this dilemma that must be solved and then asks the question why. Why does anything need to be solved? There is enough here for the characters to simply exist and the movie is made well enough to make the point that that in itself is what people are most uncomfortable with.

The characters are great, especially Alex. The cinematography is really interesting. The dialogue is thoughtful and the way in which the story unfolds makes this film an excellent drama that allows the viewer to think about aspects of being human without having emotional buttons pushed the whole way through.

You look at the cover of this DVD and you think, " I'm in the mood for a relationship-oriented independent film". So you get "Who Loves The Sun" and watch exactly what you thought you were getting. The actors perform according to the abilities you have seen them demonstrate before (although Lukas Haas was a more versatile actor as a child).

The story plays out according to plan, with some hi-jinx, some romance, some rivalry. Call it a generation Y coming of age story. It seems like the characters could just leave and go back to their lives, but they have to stick it out until everything gets resolved. Because that is what the story suggests. The cinematography is adequate. The dialog is up to today's independent movie standards. But wouldn't it be nice if something interesting happened?

This a dark comedy and it takes the question of the family very seriously. So if you can't take an absurd situation as being a valid way to explore our everyday reality then you should skip this one. But this one is so good that it can only be compared with films from very established directors like Lars Von Trier or Michael Haneke. This isn't mumble core, though it has some of the same trappings. The dialog is simple, slow and sometimes idiotic, but it's in context. And that context is an extreme that works for this film.

For all of it's charm and inanity at times, this is a very brutal work. The violence can't be passed off as just part of the plot or some cool movie stunt. It is very real. I could almost feel it. It was shocking, not for the actual event that takes place in the film, but because it was timed so well. For this made-up family it makes a twisted sense. It's this horrifying "making of sense" within an absurd context that is the director's brilliance. I put this film up there with "The Boss of it All" or "Benny's Video".