THIS IS ME

This is Me examines a group of veteran transvestites, entertainers and assorted eccentrics and the closure of La Bodega Bohemia, a Barcelona night-club-cum-refuge where they bloom at night. The owner of the club is dying and the film looks at the final moments in the spotlight of a few transvestites, many of whom shuffle in with walking sticks but come alive as they don their wigs and makeup. The film focuses on Mario, a 'transformista': at night he changes into a woman to work in the club and when day breaks he shrivels up into a man. Mario's big number is called This is Me, a song which playfully ridicules just who he is. Building to an affecting conclusion at the club owner's funeral, Yo Soy Asi atmospherically captures the shadowy decadence of Barcelona's old quarter, where the club and most of the performers' homes are located. Developing a disarming, unforced pathos in chronicling the last days of La Bodega Bohemia, director Soma Herman Dolz has crafted a deeply moving film experience.