Las niñas

Uninspired and mostly autobiographical coming of age yawn fest. The writer-director seems to have come across her girly diaries and decided that it was a good idea to share her experiences with the world. Gave up half way. If that was the best Spanish film of the year, God knows which one was the worst.

It is very hard to find a film these days that doesn't feature a useless man, a empowered woman and a trans hero. This film shows the harsh reality that we all women live: our worst enemy is other women.

Mothers ruining the lives of their daughters because of their own ghosts, created by their mothers. This film opens our eyes and shows us where the real problem lies in women's society.

Celia, an 11-year-old girl, studies at a nuns' school in Zaragoza and lives with her mother. Brisa, a new classmate recently arrived from Barcelona, pushes her towards a new stage in her life: adolescence. On this journey, in the Spain of the Expo and the 1992 Olympics, Celia discovers that life is made up of many truths and some lies.

Seriously, is this the winner of Goya 2021 for the Best Film? A story that could be told in 15 minutes extended with no interest sequences and never ending shots. I can't believe this is the best we can do in Spain.

This film is a great depiction of the morals of Spain in the 90s. A country which, while trying to look forward, had not eliminated its very conservative institutions. Add to this the beggining of adolescense ( the presence of Brissa symbolizes that ) and the shananigans it entails and you have a good picture. ( In addition, there are the truths about her family hidden from Celia, which are revealed as part of the adolescense process. ) Add to that an almost Bressonian minimalism and the right music for the era and you have a stellar movie.

"Schoolgirls" (or Las Ninas as I found it) is a very well done coming of age story set during the 1990s against a backdrop of a very traditional Catholic school.

What stood out the most to me here was the absolutely wonderful performance by young Andrea Fandos as the main character, Celia. She did a great job playing the initially naive young schoolgirl who starts to question everything once she meets new student Brisa, also played wonderfully by young Zoe Aranao.

The movie does a great job showing Celia's confusion about her overly strict school setting and budding adolescence, while also being equally frustrated and sad in regards to her relationship with her widowed single mother.

Another strong point of the movie is the honesty with which it treats the nature of Celia growing up. I have to admit that I had no idea that it took place in the 90's until the third time I had watched it, so now that I know that, I have to give it more credit since I grew up in the mid to late 90's myself. The movie showed Celia's adolescence without being overly rough or graphic, but also hammered home how rough things were for her at the time.

What I would've like to have seen was some more resolution between the young characters prior to the end. There were several scenes that showcased their (at times uneasy) friendships and connections, and while I was satisfied with the presented ending, it would've been nice to see something nice like Brisa and Cris visiting Celia at home and them hanging out before the end credits rolled.

All in all, though, "Schoolgirls" seemed to me like the Spanish 2020 version of 1995's "Now and Then", though here there was much less profanity and comedic overtones. Definitely worth a re-watch or three.