Written by Nicole Cabrera

Warning: This review is for The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo, which is a film presented at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival. There may be slight spoilers present. Reader discretion is advised.

Image courtesy of the Toronto International film Festival.

There are bits of truth in every myth it is often said; in every story about a creature that goes bump in the night, or an experience that seemed magical or unexplainable — there is a root in something that maybe while different then what one is used to, is also still very human. This is seen to be the case in the film The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo (La misteriosa mierada del flamenco), directed by David Cespedes in his feature debut that skillfully links those hints of myth and the supernatural with stark realities of human nature.

Mysterious Gaze brings together two words in the rural mining towns of Chile — those of the working male miners and those in the life of young Lidia (Tamara Cortes) who is raised by a community of strong queer women. Lidia watches as the women in her life entertain the local miners while having her own childhood adventures and all the highs and lows that come with it (from local bullies to her first romance). Through it all, the centre of Lidia’s world is a matriarchy of women led by Mama Boa (Paula Dinamarca) a fierce leader; she looks out for her group of trans and queer women, a menagerie of colorful and amusing personalities and names: Lioness, Chinchilla, Star and Pirranah — yet, one of the most extravagant stand out of her ladies is Flamingo. Flamingo (played by Matias Catalan) shines in this film, she exudes confidence, grace, beauty, and the humour of a woman who knows her role in her community, she raises Lidia to be strong and independent but underneath it- there is vulnerability to her about her failing health and more so, her desire to be to be wanted and loved by another.

Flamingo is not only well loved within her family and by Lidia but by the local men as well to her detriment. Mysterious Gaze is quick to establish the unfair reality of Lidia’s world; the miners love to spend time with the ladies by night… singing, dancing, watching their beautiful talent shows and keeping them company — but by day, they treat the women like social pariahs. The miners are cruel, spreading rumours that the women have powers and can curse any man who falls in love with them by looking into their eyes; bringing an edge of the supernatural and mystery to their world. Lidia, despite being kept in the dark about the cryptic secret that hides amongst the women of her found family is not to be deterred, she is determined to find out what the “gaze” is.

As a result, Cespedes' film is seen to mix a slow burn nature with those peaks of intrigue and tragedy — Gaze shows its true teeth very early, as a tragedy we see played out far too often in the current political climate occurs. One night, an old lover of Flamingo’s past Yovani (Pedro Munoz) comes into bar, begging for Flamingo’s attention which is quickly rebuffed — but he won’t take no for an answer. Yovani threatens the girls with violence something that is not uncommon to their world and is forcefully removed from the bar; But it is clear that Flamingo still feels something for him too. Their whirlwind former romance leads to Flamingo putting her faith back into a dangerous place and leading to deadly consequences when Yovani kills her in a moment of passion.

The small community of women is shaken to their core, and with Flamingo’s loss they lose a big part of their sense and control. The mining men try to take advantage of their pain and keep them under their thumb by putting the women under house arrest and covering their eyes to prevent them from spreading their “love” illness to the other mining men but to no avail; the danger rings loud and clear — the women may be with them but they will for the most part not be accepted by the men who use them.

Despite the heavy sadness that lives of Mama Boa and her girls is steeped in — there is intermittent joy — Boa herself is able to find love with one of her old loves Clemente and truly have a wedding for the ages, and there is much humour to be found — the women are the backbone of Cespedes film; they know who they are, as queer and trans women they are not embarrassed or trying to hide themselves but seeking happiness as much as anyone has a right to. Much of their intrigue comes from their fierce sense of community, loyalty and Lidia is much the same, as her side quest leads her to piece together what is the magic that exists in her makeshift family while also seeking vengeance in the name of Flamingo.

Mysterious Gaze is masterful at swirling the surreal and the truth, for a young girl the truth of her family and their mystical powers and the pursuit of vengeance is cut and dry, both played out with imagination of horror scene and western shootout respectfully yet — the reality is more bleak. What Lidia instead discovers is the double-edged complication of being human: there is no magic in their small community; the men are not trapped and made ill by magic, but by AIDS. While many of the women in Lidia’s family believe they carry this ability to curse men and bring them to their knees with their “mysterious gaze” the truth is simper and more sombre.

The haze is thus cleared from Lidia’s eyes and her world as the truth becomes clear, even Lidia’s plans for vengeance become a thing of the past when it is revealed Yovani has succumbed to AIDS though it's spoken of in hushed tones by his family. We rejoin Lidia and her family what feels like a significant amount of time later, things have changed and it feels like Boa and Lidia have lost more members of their family and that the matriarch and youngest member are at a cross roads — its clear Mama Boa health is not well; and she therefore wants to assure that Lidia has a good future by sending her to go live in the city with Clemente’s daughter and her own children. Lidia fights her tooth and nail refusing to leave before seemingly giving in. As the ladies say their goodbye to their little one it appears that Lidia’s fate is sealed until she escapes as they begin to leave and she attempts to return home; but in truth Lidia is left at an ambiguous crossroads of where her life is going; her home is not what used to be, there is no good future for her there but it is all she has ever known — we leave her with the ghost of Flamingo’s memory haunting her thoughts as she decides which path to take.

Mysterious gaze of the Flamingo is a bittersweet film at its core — teetering between the joys of found family and the harsh ongoing realities of how the trans community was treated in rural 1980’s Chile — and is, unfortunately, still treated today in many parts of the world. At times, the film is seen to be meandering without a clear path and some of the small plot points like Boa’s romance seems to come out of nowhere, while other characters stories like Flamingo’s could have been extended as their character was crucial to the plot and their ghost haunts the rest of the film. Regardless of this, the representation of the trans community while one of the films greatest strengths is truly a Latin American approach and filled with the nuisances of their culture and not a catchall for the LGBTQIA+ community. Despite this, the core of the film, is its found family nature; the love for one another, those who feel they have no place, and creating that sense of community despite how the world outside may treat one differently — Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo is a true representation of love and survival working in tandem, so that the future may be better for others.

Nicole Cabrera is a Toronto-based film enjoyer with a passion for the eighties, horror, and deep diving their favourite actors’ obscure filmography. When they’re not watching movies, they're writing, crafting, cosplaying, going to concerts, working on their podcast (Hollywood Deepdive. )and dreaming of traveling.