It might have impressed many filmgoers, and won both the Critics Week Grand Prize and Golden Rail award at Cannes, but unfortunately, Lucía Puenzo's XXY didn't get any Academy glory. I can't be too bummed, because the foreign film category got its share of criticism this year, but I really just chalk it up to the fact I like it. Any film or performance that I find particularly stunning or moving never gets the love it deserves come Oscar time. Inés Efron's performance is especially worthy of praise, and now you'll get a chance to see for yourself.

The Hollywood Reporter has posted that indie distributor Film Movement has bought the North American rights to the Argentinian coming-of-age drama. The company is planning to kick off the film's North American release with screentime in New York this May, and a national rollout to follow. The film focuses on Efron's Alex, a young hermaphrodite living as a girl and not feeling completely comfortable in his/her skin. (S)he struggles with the pressures of parental expectation, the pressures of keeping such a big secret, and burgeoning sexual feelings. For now, you can check out my TIFF review here, and trailers/clips here.

Luis Puenzo became the first Argentine Oscar winner in 1986 for his film, The Official Story. Now his daughter Lucía Puenzo is poised for her shot with XXY, as Eric D. Snider told you about in October. The film is making waves as Argentina picked it for their Oscar submission, it won the Critics Week Grand Prize at Cannes, it's got a Spanish Goya nomination, and now Variety reports that it leads the nominations for the 2007 Sur awards from the Argentine Film Arts and Sciences Academy.

Puenzo's directorial debut has nabbed an impressive 13 out of 19 nominations at the awards, and the categories include best film, director, adapted screenplay, debut feature, and an acting nod for Inés Efron as revelation actress. This doesn't really come as a surprise. I reviewed the film at TIFF this year, and it's a solid feature, which shines with Efron's performance. I would be surprised if she doesn't nab this award, and if we don't see more from her in the near future. I bet the same can be said for Puenzo, since this is her debut feature.

Meanwhile, Ricardo Darín, who played Efron's father in the film, is up for lead actor in another movie, Nine Queens, and Julieta Díaz is up for lead actress for her role in Family Law. Other big nominees include The Aerial, a sci-fi fantasy from Esteban Sapir and Juan Taratuto's romcom, Who Says It's Easy. This will be the second ceremony held by the Academy.

When XXY opens, we're greeted with beautiful, undersea masses, each looking like they exist in their own floating world -- while still being attached to each other through waving, living cords. It's a stunning, yet sadly apt metaphor for the film, because while these are interconnected, the characters in Lucia Puenzo's film are anything but. They are struggling -- both to connect with each other and to uphold what they think is right. Unfortunately, the realm of what is 'right' is wavering and unclear. In the first scene, we see the start of an autopsy on a dead turtle. When the shell is removed, marine biologist Kraken (Ricardo Darín) sadly states that it was a girl. Unfortunately, his world isn't as cut and dry as the slain turtle's.

He has a kid named Alex -- wonderfully played by Inés Efron. Alex is a hermaphrodite who has been living through her adolescence as a girl. The family has moved around a lot, and it becomes clear that they've done so for the young kid's privacy and comfort. Alex's mother Suli (Valeria Bertuccelli), without talking to her husband, invites a surgeon and his family to visit and assess the situation -- with hopes that Alex will agree to have her penis removed and finally transition into one sex. What Suli doesn't realize is that Alex has stopped taking the prescribed hormones.