La Niña Santa (Lucrecia Martel, 2004)

La Niña Santa discusses an interesting topic about sexuality and religion. The main character, Amalia, is molested by a doctor who is participating at a conference at a hotel. Amalia, although visibly upset about the ordeal, decides to save Dr. Jano's soul and fix him. This movie focuses on adolescent sexual discovery and power within herself.

I thought this film had really great cinematography. I thought the friendship between Amalia and Josefina, worked really well in the film because of the support system between them, but also the addition of this growing sexual vulnerability. Martel does a great job a defining the claustrophobic space in film, and shows the audience the power play between characters.

El Niño Pez (Lucía Puenzo, 2009)

El Niño Pez is a movie about a girl, Lala, who falls in love with the family maid, Ailin. Ailin is raped by Lala's father. Lala takes matters into her own hands when she kills her father for his crime, but Ailin is still accused of the murder. While Ailin is in jail, Lala tries to find out where she is, and in doing so find out more about her past. 

I really liked this film. I think that the director being a woman adds a lot of depth to the movie. There is a lot of raw emotion, and sensitive lighting and camera angles that work with the plot line of the story. The story of the film is really interesting because it's up to times with Argentinean history (mentions of LGBTQ rights, sexual violence and class differences).