Gracefully, and with open hearts, seven-year-old Nori and her mother, Josephin, reflect on their experiences together and on the ways they’ve traversed society’s expectations of them—and, perhaps more importantly, their own expectations of one another. Nori, born a boy, is actually a girl. Comfortable amid the gentle spaces of childhood—parks, performances, and the costume shop where Josephin is employed—Nori shines with assurance about her identity, while Josephin is forthcoming about the ambiguities she’s faced and the difficulties of learning to let her daughter take the lead. A film whose heart reaches past its 37 minutes, Girl-Hearted feels as though we’ve been let into an inner world. Harsh realities may play right around the edges, but we’re allowed to linger in the imaginative territory where only Nori and Josephin rule and where, despite the occasional humorous spat, their guiding principle might ultimately be the love they share.  SD