The August Virgin (Jonás Trueba) [Archive]

Grouchy

11-19-2019, 03:58 PM

This is the first film I've seen from Fernando Trueba's son and he certainly seems cut from a different wood than his father. The August Virgin is a bittersweet post-romantic film about a woman coming to terms with a painful break-up as she idly wanders around summertime Madrid and interacts with a variety of colorful and believable characters, and it's reminiscent of works from Eric Rohmer and Woody Allen while also retaining its own particular feel. Lead actress Itsaso Arana also wrote the screenplay and it kind of shows, because it's such a showreel for her enormous range. I had never heard of her before but she's a talent to be watched. I felt that, near the end, her script overexplained things a bit much, particularly its Virgin Mary metaphors - but it shouldn't detract too much from anyone's overall experience.