In competition film #16 of the twenty-two offerings, and the first of a three day competition buffet, and the second com title from Spain, Carla Simón‘s fourth feature film is tipped as a neorealist flamenco musical in the neighbourhood of La Mina, Barcelona and completes the trilogy that begun by 2017’s Summer 1993, with 2022’s Alcarràs (read ★★★½ review) being a big winner at the Berlinale landing the Golden Bear. Filming on Romería took place in August with younglings Llúcia Garcia and Mitch Martín toplining. This is about an orphaned young woman Marina travels to Vigo to seek information about her biological father, who died from AIDS. She comes across her uncle and the rest of her family on her father’s side, who are nonetheless reluctant to look back to the past due to shame because of Marina’s biological parents’ struggles with substance abuse. Hélène Louvart is the cinematographer here. Elástica Films’ María Zamora produces.
This is Simón’s first time in Cannes and like her countryman confrère Oliver Laxe first time in competition. With fifteen of our critics weighing in, we have an average grade just below the 3 mark.
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