excerpt, full review at my location - The writer/director of the synopsis- defying Argentine intersexuality melodrama XXY follows up her directorial debut with this adaptation of her own novel. With Inés Efron returning as another gay protagonist, Puenzo this time treads more traditional ground with her lesbian noir drama, but is the result Argentina's answer to the Wachowshi brothers' Bound or a case of a difficult second album depreciating the promise of the first?

There's plenty of intrigue in this film for it to be of interest, and while it often fails to deliver on its promises, Lucía Puenzo is not on the list of Argentine directors you'd be wise to ignore. But given her impressive prior work, The Fish Child represents an overall disappointing work from an artist we've been given reason to expect more from.

Lala is in love with her maid Ailin whom she has known since she was 13. They plan to steal from Lala's Argentinian family and run away back to Ailin's Paraguay home town on the lake. There is a mysterious legend of the Fish Child at the lake. Ailin is caught for the thieve and refuses to turn on Lala. The detention center has a dark secret and Lala strives to retrieve her love in a daring escape.

The two women are compelling characters and there is a nice forbidden love going on. The chemistry is OK but could be better. The movie could have a better flow. It is edited in a time-jumping disjointed way. It's not the best way to establish chemistry for the couple and for the flow of their journey. Time jumbos are not fit for everything. The movie stumbles a few times and the last act is where the movie fumbles. It's all jammed together with sex slavery, the escape, and the reveal of the legend. The worst is the overly emotional reaction to her dead dog in the middle of the shootout. I kind of chuckled when they carried both the injured and the dead dog as they escaped. The movie has some interesting aspects but overall, it is a slight miss.

Good intentions, no so well translated to the screen. In a way, confuse in many moments, not so clear in others; all related without a clear cinematographic language.

A feeling that the story is what in Spanish we call "tirada de los pelos"; exaggerated situations without a clear context between one situation with another.

Great performances of Ines Efron and specially of Mariela Vitale -the daughter of Lito Vitale, wow!-, that studied guarani for her role on this movie, a revelation as actress. A special mention for Arnaldo Andre, too.