‘Romería’ Turns Summer Into Memory

Family dramas rarely arrive as naturalistic and perceptive as “Romería,” the new Spanish film from director Carla Simon. Centered on an adopted 18-year-old girl meeting the estranged family of her deceased father, the drama pays close attention to the dynamics of a large Galician clan, one touched by drug addiction and grief, yet without histrionics or sentimentality. Tensions between adult siblings, the difficult interactions with a conservative patriarch and matriarch, and the misunderstandings that accumulate over the years — these are all explored by Ms. Simon. Yet it is the secrets that fester that speak the loudest in this quietly captivating film. Near the end, a family member declares, “There are things we never talk about,” a statement that will no doubt resonate with many viewers.Seen through the eyes of Marina, its young interloper protagonist, the film also works as a coming-of-age narrative, particularly as it unfolds over several summer days in 2004 before the character begins a new stage in her life: higher education. But her university scholarship depends on her obtaining an official document regarding her paternity and father’s death, the process of which leads to revelations about her father and his family as well as friction with her grandparents.During the film’s third act, Ms. Simon surprises by introducing another genre: the dream vision. This extended sequence sees Marina as her mother and her cousin Nuno as her father Alfonso. (In the 2004 scenes, Marina and Nuno engage in a flirtation, adding to the theme of family dysfunction.) Using surrealistic imagery and oneiric flashbacks, the director depicts her parents in the eighties, a post-Franco time of freedom and youthful experimentation but also one in which heroin use ran rampant and AIDS cases suddenly grew in number.At the start, Marina arrives in Vigo, Galicia’s biggest city, from Barcelona, where she lives with her adopted mother. She meets her uncle Lois, his wife, and three boys, including the eldest, Nuno. On vacation from their lives in Madrid, the family is sailing around the Ria de Vigo estuary, edged by the stunning Cíes Islands, on a boat belonging to his wealthy parents. It is on this sailboat that Marina first sees his parents/her grandparents, who happen to be on another vessel in a parade of boats representing a “romería,” or Catholic pilgrimage. As she goes on to meet her other uncle, two aunts, and others over the next few days, she is told stories about her parents, both of whom died at a relatively young age. Some of what she’s told contradicts what she reads in her mother’s diary or thought to be true, including the date of her father’s death. Similar to the way her mother was immersed in his family when she moved from Barcelona to Vigo in 1983, Marina becomes enmeshed in their privileged lives, petty gripes, and anxieties, many of which stem from the imperious senior members. She even learns how her grandfather tried to bribe her mother not to see Alfonso back in the day. After building up to the moment when Marina will meet her grandfather, including several allusions and direct references to how difficult he is, Ms. Simon then ignores their introduction, instead falling back on her tendency to have the character overhear conversions from nearby windows or someplace nearby. This organic storytelling approach can make for frustrating viewing, though the director does depict the moment when the girl is presented to her passive-aggressive grandmother. Later, she portrays a scene in which the grandfather has all his grandkids line up to receive gifts of money, and, while mildly heartwarming, it also reeks of benevolent manipulation and domination. To Marina, he offers an envelope filled with cash for her college education, in an attempt to convince her not to pursue securing the document regarding her father. She reluctantly accepts it.In press notes, Ms. Simon explains how she and her team found Llúcia Garcia, who plays Marina, on the street as she returned from summer camp. It was a propitious find because the novice actress brings a quiet but questioning watchfulness to the role, ideal for a character who is learning about her parents’ past and herself in the process. Perfectly embodying the transitional stage between youth and maturity, Ms. Garcia appears self-conscious and awkward at times and confident and tenacious at others.With the film so focused on Marina’s viewpoint and a naturalistic style, the rest of the cast isn’t allowed to shine, though actors Mitch Martín and Alberto Gracia, as Nuno and Uncle Iago, respectively, each have sympathetic moments. This tentative perspective denies neat answers and even speculation, so it comes as some surprise when the drama segues to fantasy as flashback in its final stretch. As the lives of Marina’s mother and father are sensually depicted, Ms. Simon could be accused of romanticizing drug use, though one also senses her refusal to judge these characters like they were judged by Alfonso’s parents. Still, she doesn’t hide from the ugly side of drug abuse, with this section culminating in a masterful allegorical sequence in which a fit of dancing turns into a haunting.While telling a fictional tale, Ms. Simon rooted her screenplay in elements from her own life, including the death of her parents and her mother’s letters. This autobiographical quality extends to Marina’s desire to study cinema and how she totes around a video camera. It also lends the film a certain caginess, despite its generally incisive look at family, as if the writer-director did not wish to get too personal. As the film clunkily climaxes with a few scenes back in 2004, evasions and elisions remain, particularly regarding Marina herself. Still, despite not knowing the full truth, this ending proves compelling and meaningful as we see the character come into her own, radiant and justified in her bid for recognition and acceptance.

‘Romería’ Turns Summer Into Memory

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