Berlin Review: ‘20,000 Species Of Bees’ Starring 8-Year-Old Silver Bear Winner Sofia Otero
deadline.comWith the delicacy of a bee probing a flower for pollen, Basque director Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren picks her way through the tensions and dilemmas within a family where the youngest member, an 8-year-old boy called Aitor, is feeling his way toward a new identity as a girl.
Sofia Otero, who deservedly won the Silver Bear for a lead performer at the Berlinale’s award night Saturday, shows an instinctive, unforced and generous understanding of how difficult her character’s life must be.
As Coco – the between-stools nickname the family has devised to avoid anything too specifically gendered – Otero is alternately obstinate, tearful, mischievous and withdrawn.
She craves her mother’s comprehension but pushes her away when she tries to talk to her about why she doesn’t want to go to school.
Read more on deadline.com