20.000 Espécies de Abelhas

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.

This delicate and warm film is about gender dysphoria felt and expressed at quite a young age by an eight-year-old child, who is going on a family vacation to visit grandmother and great-aunt. We, as well as the child's mother and other family members, are gradually exposed to these very clear dysphoria expressions and the family's reaction to them.

A few people at the theatre where I watched this were leaving saying how heavy the subject is but I look at it in a different way. What is difficult is how rigid we are with our gender stereotypes and how very much easier and happier life could be without them. In the film, the child was free and happy to talk about her body and the way it works only with the family member who accepted the child, and at those moments the dysphoria was gone. Another thing I like about this careful and slow-paced film is the parallel storyline that had to do with sculpting. I could almost touch the intimacy of this art form and see how, as well as figures and statues, each and every one of us is sculpted by our families and our prejudices or our perseverance and self-acceptance.

Sort of documentary style filming, lots of camera movement and close ups. Beautifully filmed, although I'd have liked more panoramics of the extraordinary Basque countryside.

I didn't really enjoy the story, although the interaction between the protagonist and his Grandmother and Great Aunt I enjoyed, I´d have milked that more. You don't need to go into gender to create interesting and deep relationships, I wasn't sure if he was a boy or a girl, for me it didn't matter, I just enjoy seeing relationships unfolding, Good movie.but I'd have enjoyed it more if gender hadn't been the main drive of it..

As an old, conservative, straight man who rolls his eyes when he hears "What are your pronouns?, I'm not the prime target of a movie about a young boy of confused sexuality. But I greatly enjoyed the film. If this were a Hollywood treatment of the topic, the father would be an alcoholic, former Marine with PTSAD who keeps screaming at the kid "Act like a man." But all the characters here, while not equally sympathetic, are never reduced to such stereotypes. They are all terribly human, struggling how to deal with a situation that baffles and upsets them. The extended family is introduced to us, and its history and skeletons in the closet are explored. The film is likely too long, and it would have been better served by a more severe editor or tighter script. But it's certainly a rewarding two hours and well recommended.

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.