No soy él
2017 · 11m
Directed by Xoán Bregua
Genres: coming-of-age, drama, LGBTQ+
Tones: contemplative, melancholic, tender
Clara cannot show who she truly is and is forced to live under a name and appearance that are not hers, in a portrait of the reality faced by transgender children.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
It's a sensitive subject handled with restraint—almost *too* much restraint for someone looking for a film that unsettles rather than validates. The premise is inherently radical, but Bregua plays it too safe, leaning on tender melancholy instead of the mess and fury that might actually rupture comfort.
A formally measured meditation on identity and concealment that positions itself squarely in the European art-cinema tradition of intimate portraiture; the contemplative pacing and visual restraint recall early Haneke, though it lacks the philosophical density that would elevate it beyond accomplished craft.
The film's entire power rests on the single recurring choice to keep Clara's face partially obscured or reflected—never quite revealed—which transforms what could be a straightforward identity drama into something about the violence of visual erasure itself, and that formal decision alone redeems an otherwise conventional story.