Ella dijo Lenny (She said Lenny)
2010 · 6m · Canadá
Directed by Jim Donovan
Genres: comedy, LGBTQ+, romance
Ellen's first date with the man of her dreams is nearly perfect — he is young, elegant and witty — except that her Prince Charming turns out to be a woman.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
The premise wants to be a cute gender-reveal punchline, which is exactly the kind of tired rom-com beats everyone else would greenlight—so it's not surprising Felix would pass, bored by a setup that announces itself before the credits roll.
A competent execution of a well-worn romantic-comedy structure, situated squarely in the lineage of expectation-subversion shorts, though it treads familiar ground without formal ambition or considered restraint.
What makes this work is the timing of the reveal and how Donovan lets Ellen's face carry the emotional pivot—that single reaction shot where surprise collapses into recognition is the kind of performance choice that transforms a one-joke premise into something genuinely tender.