L’ANIMALE
Tomboy Mati is treated just like one of the rowdy boys in her dirt bike gang, but when she rejects a fellow rider’s admiration, her exclusion from the group forces her to set a new course.
Austrian filmmaker Katharina Mückstein (TALEA) returns with this celebrated queer coming-of-age film exploring the freedom one can experience once fear is overcome. College-bound and unsure of her future, Mati (Sophie Stockinger) is much more comfortable kicking up dirt on the motocross track than trying on dresses for graduation. Her nightly trips to the discothèque with fellow biker brethren often end in drunken spats with other students and locals. Despite her mother’s insistence on veterinary school and her childhood friend’s affection, Mati begins to veer off the track laid out for her and explore her own desires. Mückstein presents not only a subtle character study of a woman finding herself and entering a relationship with a woman, but examines the unrequited passions that felt deeply by Mati’s parents. A shocking discovery made by her mother creates a divide between the seemingly happily married couple unbeknownst to even Mati. Triumphantly striking a balance amongst this complicated trifecta of characters, Mückstein shows that although masses may ridicule for passions fought, it is ultimately worth it in the end.
CAST: Sophie Stockinger, Kathrin Resetarits, Dominik Warta, Julia Franz Richter
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