Marta travels from Madrid back home to her mum and friends, leaving her boyfriend Leo behind. She seems to be going through the motions with him, finding time to contact him but always late and always voice messages, not calls. A potential love interest is introduced, a friend of the family or an ex perhaps.. before long they are sleeping together - which seems to be no great surprise to either of them. Leo turns up to surprise her creating a love triangle of sorts. The film doesn't seem to really be about anything other than Marta deciding how and who to choose.
There are a couple of interesting shots that get you thinking, for instance where the camera is placed in such a way to show you background details over the foreground, but nothing about the filmmaking was particularly impressive or arresting. There were good naturalistic performances which did get me invested at times, but not throughout. There are lots of films which have little plot or structure and still manages to reach greatness, but this just never gets totally going.
In it's defence, it is very relatable, but still yet unremarkable drama about two relationships on the verge of breaking down, two couples who both feel things aren't quite 100% but don't broach it right away, which of course makes things worse. There are moments in each pairing when things start to become difficult which are really convincing in the details. Certain innocent comments seem loaded, and makes them argumentative. It's the relatabilty that makes the film worth watching - things that happen that make you think, 'we've all been there' - where neither of them can really win. Parts of it reminded me of that great dinner scene in La La Land, or a handful of moments from the Before Trilogy, although this doesn't have the depth that Linklater's work has.
3 out of 5
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