When a female emperor penguin lays an egg, she transfers it to the male penguin, who is tasked with protecting that egg until it hatches. He endures harsh winter conditions, standing tall to protect his future offspring. Why am I telling you this? Well, if you pay close attention during the opening minutes of I Am Mario, you’ll hear this fact stated on a television playing in the background, foreshadowing themes to come. Sharon Kleinberg’s directorial debut follows a transgender man whose life is upended when he discovers he’s pregnant after a drunken hookup with a coworker.
Mario (Oustin De León) is a hardworking cab driver. He’s become close with a few of his colleagues and finds himself at a family gathering one night with the group. When he and a married coworker split off into a bar, both drunk, they end up in a bathroom stall. They dismiss it as a silly mistake, and both try to move on. He didn’t know it at the time, but that sloppy night out would change things forever.
Mario puts money aside each week, saving for the bottom surgery that would complete his transition. But that doesn’t stop him from waiving the cab fare of a passenger who draws his portrait during her ride. He and Jessica (Ruth Ramos) have an instant chemistry, trading numbers and meeting up regularly before sharing a kiss after a night out, when he reveals he’s transgender.
“… sharing a kiss after a night out when he reveals he’s transgender …”
Mario awaits the backlash or disappointment, but Jessica simply laughs and invites him upstairs, where he’d stay the night. When Mario visits the doctor to discuss his testosterone treatment, the bomb is dropped, and his pregnancy is revealed. He lashes out in a burst of masculine anger as he begins to reckon with what it means to be a man. He weighs an abortion but can’t go through with it. His life, and relationship with Jessica, begin to crumble before he’s ready to put the pieces back together and move forward.
Mario doesn’t stand in as a monolith for the trans experience; he’s simply a representation of one man’s journey to become comfortable with his identity. Mario has a foot in two worlds, but never seems to be fully immersed in either. His colleagues embody traditional masculinity — ruthlessly roasting each other, ogling women walking by and keeping their emotions to themselves. Jessica opens Mario up to the opposite — a softer, more tolerant existence. But Mario is multidimensional. He yearns for love. He’s kind, strong, and great with kids. He doesn’t fit neatly into the status quo. Kleinberg beautifully crafts a grounded, fully-realized character that doesn’t rely on tropes or clichés we often see in trans stories. Instead, he’s saddled with emotions that anyone could experience or relate to. De León also deserves a lot of credit for how vividly Mario is portrayed. In his acting debut, he bears the weight of a lifetime of hardship, undoubtedly pulling from his lived experience to bring the audience closer to this intricately shaped character.
Watching I Am Mario is a uniquely intimate experience. Kleinberg drops us deep inside the life of a person who questions and doubts, who struggles to find his place and who yearns for a sense of normalcy. Ultimately, it’s a film about acceptance — accepting that you may not fit into the mold society has created for you, accepting the messiness of complex family relationships, and accepting the path that lies ahead. In the end, Mario finds the strength of an emperor penguin in the arctic winter as he brings new life into the world.
"…Kleinberg beautifully crafts a grounded, fully-realized character that doesn’t rely on cliches"
