A Male

This tale of a young man living in a shelter in the center of Bogotá who cannot escape the violence of the world of the streets around him, emerges nonetheless as a powerful portrait of the country’s inescapable machismo.

Hernandez's exploration of a misfit in conflict with the toxic masculinity of his environment ultimately misses the mark.

A quietly moving, understated and tender coming-of-age film.

Hernández focuses too much time on the mundane. Even a scene where it appears Carlos is being groomed for sex work doesn’t feel bold enough.

[A Male] intentionally seeks a story that evokes the aesthetics of a literary tale. [Full review in Spanish]

While certain zones of the film aren't as effective, A Male follows its antihero inside his private life and submerges us inside the story of a life filled with enormous emotional intensity. [Full review in Spanish]

Although we have seen these characters before, Un Varón is unique in the way it presents the facts, without false illusions or melodramatic outcomes, focusing on the reflective part of the story. [Full review in Spanish]

Works effectively surrounding the theme of masculinity as a cultural construct, associated with violence... and is also a survival mechanism. [Full review in Spanish]

A narrative as straightforward as its blunt title would suggest, it’s a feral, often troubling tale of survival in a bleak, hopeless world which defines many contemporary narratives arriving from Latin and South America.

Nothing about these particular plot details feel the least bit organic, simply existing to add another layer of cheap irony to the proceedings, as if the Christmas-time setting wasn’t ham-fisted enough.