The Reconquest

Jonás Trueba's 2016 Spanish film divides in two. In the first half Manuela and Olmo keep a promise made fifteen years earlier as teenagers and meet again in Madrid; they talk through a night, walk, drink and take the measure of the distance between them. In the second half the film goes back to the time that promise was made, to their first love. Trueba's interest is not in event but in time itself: the gap between what is remembered and what happened, which words were kept faith with, which gestures were forgotten. The telling is extremely calm, the dialogue long and close to real speech. Madrid at night works as the film's second character. It is among the best known works of contemporary Spanish independent cinema. Who it's for: viewers who like conversation-driven romance and films that think about time. Who it's not for: anyone looking for plot and tension; the film is almost entirely talk.