@ Reviewing for the 7th Sydney Latin American Film Festival 2012
Review by: Andrew Chan (Neo) FCCA
Review Date: 2 September 2012

A well-meaning film about a transsexual and outcast of society wanting to belong and live a normal life, but somehow, “Mia” never reaches second gear and resulting in a rather pedestal film. “Mia” opens the 7th Sydney Latin American Film Festival, starting on September 6th 2012.

“Mia” is a Argentinean film that is full of honest intentions. The problem with films like this one, and especially those touching on the issues of transsexuals, you need to be more than normal. This kind of film need to be able to touch the audience. However, from start to finish, “Mia” is never engaging and is not interesting enough for the audience to have any desire to keep watching. For “Mia” to work, it needed to touch the audience’s heart, especially through the interaction between the lead character (played by Camila Sosa Villada) and the child (played by Maite Lanata). This special relationship needs to able to bring out exactly what the director want to say about society, transsexuals and social outcasts. Unfortunately, “Mia” presses all the wrong button and just didn’t work for me. As much as I wanted to like the film, it just never engages me. In many ways, “Mia” is considered a disappointment.

In terms of acting, Camila Sosa Villada just does not have the on-screen charisma to sustain the audience attention. Camila is playing an important character and is crucial to the film’s success. As a transsexual, she is too timid, far too understated and resulting in an uninteresting character that nobody cares about. Perhaps the best thing in the movie is the relationship between Camila and the child. The father of the child (played by Rodrigo De la Serna) is does a great job in being constantly drunk and depressed. While the child played by Maite Lanata is a welcome and likable addition.

There are a number of social outcasts that appears in the film from time to time. However, none of them feel like characters, and feel as though they are attending an interview. The director/writer Javier van de Couter fails to provide a more in-depth analysis and social commentary on these outcast and struggle of their existence. One moment, Coute is focusing on the relationship, in another he switches to an interview with the outcasts. Couter is too concern with doing too many and the result is not being able to score the home run.

All in all, “Mia”, is not an outright a bad film, but is the kind of film that never reaches second gear. The director Couter plays far too safe for his own good, when “Mia” should have been far more daring and controversial. The real problem is that nothing really happens and while it can be a good thing for other films, it ultimately becomes a make or break with “Mia”. Essentially, “Mia” is a honest and well meaning film that didn’t work for me and that’s rather unfortunate… (Neo 2012)

I rated it 5/10

“Mia” is the opening film of the 7th Sydney Latin American Film Festival, during September 6th-10th.

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