TIFF 2025: The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo Review

This will be one of many reviews during this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, to keep up with our latest coverage, click here.

In a Chilean mining town, a disease runs rampant, one that makes men sick upon the gaze of another man (or trans woman). With this, the fear of the unknown plagues the residents, the people being judged the most being the queer family, consisting of 11-year-old Lidia (Cortes), her mother Boa (Dinamarca), and her friend Flamingo (Catalán), ostracized by some for being part of the unknown. The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo, the debut feature of writer-director Diego Céspedes, may run light on plot but it delivers a beautiful story of a found family and of love and loss, one filled with as much hope and joy, as it does sadness and somberness. 

To cement the dynamic between Lidia and her family, audiences first see the family threatening a group of boys for teasing her about them. Though a stereotypical found queer family trope, it works well, showcasing the relationship between its members and their care for Lidia. Despite the presence of sadness in the plot, there are also moments of queer joy sprinkled throughout, culminating in a wedding, the ultimate happiness of falling in love. A clear metaphor for the AIDS epidemic, the film certainly does not shy away from the realities of the times, the hatred that one gets for not being cisgender or straight, the fear of the unknown and of touch (in this case, replicated through the gaze), and the resounding repulsion. 

That’s not to say the film is flawless, The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo is fairly light on plot, occasionally testing the patience of audiences who prefer stories with more plot beats. That being said, moments where the plot lies thin allows its characters to simply exist, as they intrude on their day-to-day life. Further into the film, the dynamic began to change, as a group of men blindfold the women, driven by the fear of the gaze, of the unknown. The evolution of these groups, going from extreme to another, from fear, to friendship, love, and respect, was beautiful to watch. After getting to know everyone and understand them for the first time, they soon realized there was nothing to fear all along and the error in their ways, once thinking that AIDS can be spread through pure gazing (similar to the thought that merely touching someone could transmit AIDS). 

While The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo isn’t perfect, running long and light on plot will certainly test the patience of audiences. However, for audiences willing to give the film a chance, they will be presented with a compelling story of love, loss and hope. It thrives in its representation of queer people as people just existing, without shying away from the hatred they also faced during that time. A beautiful showcase of the power of found family and how the queer community shows up for one another, for the most part, this is often all they have. All in all, a brilliant directorial debut from Diego Céspedes, it will be exciting to see what the future has in store.

still courtesy of Altered Innocence

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Jasmine Graham