Beautiful people confined to wheelchairs or dying of cancer are a popular trend in cinemas, having more or less spawned their own genre. If not always sickly sentimental (Me Before You struck a fine balance between lachrymose and thoughtful), most movies dealing with terminal illness can’t help but incline to the mawkish. So Spanish director Cesc Gay’s endearing film of subtle emotional shifts and sadness held at bay comes as a relief as well as a reminder that pulling too hard on the heartstrings of an audience runs the risk of denying it that more rewarding feeling of true empathy.
Tomás (Javier Cámara) flies from Canada to Madrid to visit his dear old mate Julián (Ricardo Darin), whose cancer is in its final stage. Though confronting his looming demise with stoicism, Julián is distressed because he cannot find a new owner for his beloved dog Truman after he is gone. Following their reunion – it is such a beautiful, understated moment when the two men hug at Julián’s apartment door – we join them for drinks, restaurant dinners, walks around the city and a spontaneous trip to Amsterdam so that Julián might see his son Nico (Oriol Pla), who is studying there. Gay maintains the focus throughout on his characters’ relationships – including Paula (Delores Fonzi) – on their reflections of the past and on what remains of value to them still. They all need to deal with the sad circumstance that has drawn them together again, but in confronting it they are able to draw on a well of bottomless affection and joy.
If anything, the most touching scene comes when, returning to his flat with Tomás after leaving Truman for a ‘test run’ at a prospective carer’s, Julián breaks down and sobs in the back of their cab. Darin, the great Argentine actor, is superb as a man resigned to his fate but unbowed by its daunting finality. A movie for anybody who has lost someone close to them, this is one of the year’s best.
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