Choosing Who You Are Costs Something

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MOVIE REVIEWS
Iván & Hadoum
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Genre: Drama, Romance
Year Released: 2026
Runtime: 1h 40m
Director(s): Ian de la Rosa
Writer(s): Ian de la Rosa
Cast: Silver Chicón, Herminia Loh
Where to Watch: shown at the 2026 Berlin International Film Festival

RAVING REVIEW: What do you get when love arrives at the perfect time, after years of learning how to survive? IVÁN & HADOUM begins with this tension and never resolves it in an easy-to-answer way, as the central relationship isn’t portrayed as an escape from the world, but as one affected and limited by it, and specifically by work and class.

Ian de la Rosa's feature is aware that intimacy doesn’t live in a vacuum, especially when people’s lives are already dictated by what they do for a living, how much money they make, and who they know. Iván and Hadoum are introduced as coworkers before lovers. This order is important. They are working in a large industrial greenhouse in Southern Spain. The greenhouse is a place of repetitive motion, hierarchy, and exhaustion. People are judged by their ability to produce rather than by their inner selves (sounds like most jobs I’ve had). de la Rosa treats the greenhouse as both a setting and a system that quietly defines how much space to give love.

Silver Chicón's acting as Iván is calm and intentionally reserved. Iván is a transman whose identity is never presented as a problem to be solved or a lesson to be learned. The film presents Iván's identity as an assumption, thereby allowing the true conflict to arise from other areas of his life. He’s been waiting what feels like a lifetime for stability, for some form of acknowledgment, and for movement in a system that has provided little stability for him. A promotion that Iván can obtain will require a different type of pressure on him, pressure that will force him to decide which aspects of himself he can negotiate.

Hadoum, played by Herminia Loh, is portrayed and written with equally restrained acting and writing. Hadoum is not presented as a catalyst for Iván’s self-discovery, nor as a symbol of freedom. Hadoum is instead presented as someone independent and negotiating cultural expectations, labor uncertainty, and emotional risk. The development of the relationship between Iván and Hadoum occurs quietly and slowly, through shared glances, small gestures, and stolen moments from the regular routines that surround them. Their relationship is a product of hard-won trust and the absence of the dramatics and over-the-top gestures that often accompany the development of relationships in films.

What sets IVÁN & HADOUM apart is that it resists making its story into a thesis statement. de la Rosa, whose previous short films and works have consistently used identity as a character trait rather than an abstract concept, trusts that the audience will see beyond the surface of the story. The film is labeled as a queer movie, which it rightfully is; it’s equally concerned with issues surrounding class, labor, and how ambition alters the nature of intimacy. In this film, love is not forbidden; however, it’s inconvenient, and this creates the film's subtle heartbeat.

The film was shot with a muted, naturalistic color palette. The greenhouse provides a space for growth, however, only in very specific circumstances. The cinematographer, Beatriz Sastre, captures the greenhouse's duality by capturing moments of softness amid the lines and confines created to keep things contained. The film's visual style mirrors Iván’s internal struggles: growth is possible, but always constrained.

de la Rosa's screenplay is patient, sometimes even withholding. Conversations are left to trail off. Conflicts are implied, rather than acted out. Even though the long-awaited promotion could have easily been portrayed as a clear antagonist, de la Rosa describes it as a nuanced issue. The promotion isn’t evil; however, it is ‘expensive’. Iván’s fight isn’t about choosing love over success in a simple, affirming way. Iván is struggling to realize how deeply he has internalized the rules of a system that now views him as valuable.

Ultimately, what resonates with IVÁN & HADOUM is its refusal to provide an easy resolution. The film recognizes that becoming the person you want to be doesn’t always equate to the person the world rewards. Iván’s decision, when made, is neither triumphant nor tragic. His decision is influenced by circumstance, desire, and fear in equal measure. This honesty is what lends the film its gravity.

The film is intimate, yet not isolating, political, yet not declarative. This experience shows that de la Rosa is a filmmaker who is confident in subtlety and more interested in creating an emotionally honest depiction of compromise and consequence than in crafting a narrative-efficient film.

IVÁN & HADOUM isn’t a film that demands to be seen with a sense of urgency, but through the message it shares. It requires you to lean in, remain uncomfortable, and acknowledge how love is formed without feeling it. A thoughtful, emotionally grounded project that represents identity as a lived reality, rather than a cinematic device. The film will stay with you, which is precisely how a movie about the compromises we make should feel, regardless of whether those compromises announce themselves loudly or quietly.

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[photo courtesy of AVALON, PECADO FILMS, VAYOLET FILMS, PORT AU PRINCE FILM & KULTUR PRODUKTION, SAGA FILM, INDIE SALES, THE PR FACTORY]

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