Glimmers

Isabel's life is in order. One day her daughter Madalen asks something of her: her father Ramón is ill, lives alone, and needs visiting regularly. Isabel left him years ago and they have barely spoken since. She agrees. She goes a few times a week. They talk, they sit in silence, they eat together, and what was left in the past comes slowly back. Pilar Palomero directs. Patricia López Arnaiz plays Isabel and Antonio de la Torre plays Ramón. Palomero is among the directors who have come forward recently in Spanish cinema and has won at the Goya awards with her earlier films. The subject is care. Looking after Ramón belongs to nobody, and Isabel has to take it on; the film shows care falling to women as it is, without arguing about it. The register is measured: no scene of weeping, no speeches of explanation, and the past never fully told. Antonio de la Torre's performance is physical; the character tries to hide the illness and cannot. Its limit is how little happens; the narrative turns around one situation and very little changes across it. Who it is for: viewers who like Spanish drama and quiet, performance driven films. Who it is not for: it is slow, the subject is heavy, and the film offers no resolution or consolation.