🌐 Este artigo também está disponível em português 🇧🇷 Leia aqui
🌐 Este artículo también está disponible en español 🇪🇸 Lee aquí
Some films compel us to reconsider the way we see the world. I left the cinema with exactly that feeling after watching the eagerly awaited feature film 9 Moons (Spain, 2026), written and directed by the Venezuelan filmmaker Patricia Ortega. A genuine delight.
The film explores some of today's most pressing themes through a rich visual palette that unfolds with remarkable elegance on the big screen. The body, trans identity, masculinity, fatherhood and, above all, family all gather around the table — quite literally — in a way that is sensitive, understated and profoundly human.
The film offers moments of genuine laughter as family members confront, for the first time, the realities of a new generation. At the same time, it invites us to share Angelito's (Zack Gómez) pain as he chooses not to abandon his true self and begins his transition. What he never expected, however, was to become pregnant — yes, in the masculine.
What moved me most was the way the film refuses to reduce its characters to symbols. By moving beyond the narrative of a single lived experience, it allows them to exist simply as people. With their contradictions, doubts, humour, love and fear, it becomes remarkably easy to recognise something of ourselves in them, however different our own lives may be.
Through Angelito's transition and his journey into parenthood, the screenplay also raises important questions about gender diversity. In particular, it highlights the privileges that come with being socially perceived as a (white) man within a sexist and binary society.
A truly charming film — one that would be a real shame to wait for on a streaming platform.
Warm regards,
Alan Leites
🌐 Portuguese version 🇧🇷 Read here
🌐 Spanish version 🇪🇸 Read here
More about my literary work at alanleites.com
Image courtesy of Caramel Films. Photograph © Julio Vergne.
