Nothing in Return

Dario is sixteen and lives on the edge of Madrid. There is constant fighting at home; his parents are about to separate and nobody pays him any attention. He leaves. He knocks about with his friend Luismi, stays with a man who steals motorbikes, and then starts working with an old man who collects and sells second hand furniture in the street. Across the summer he moves from one place to another and belongs fully to none of them. Daniel Guzmán writes and directs. Miguel Herrán plays Dario, with Luis Tosar and the director's own grandmother, Antonia Guzmán, in the cast. Guzmán was known as an actor; this is his first film as director and the narrative rests on his own childhood. The most striking thing in it is the grandmother. The person playing her is his real grandmother, who had never acted, and she carries her own speech in front of the camera. The narrative builds no plot; pieces of one summer are set side by side and the character emerges from them. Miguel Herrán was discovered with this film and became known through television series afterwards. It took several prizes at the Goya awards in Spain, including best first film. Who it is for: viewers who like Spanish independent cinema and narratives of growing up. Who it is not for: the narrative is scattered, the pacing is irregular, and the film arrives nowhere.