Maspalomas

The latest drama from Basque filmmakers Aitor Arregi and Jose Mari Goenaga (without regular collaborator Jon Garaño, although it is part of the slate of the trio’s production company Moriarti) embeds a character study within a real world setting that is given an extra tang of truth by the inclusion of the start of the Covid pandemic.

At the beginning, the film is as out and proud as its protagonist Vicente (Jose Ramón Soroiz), a seventysomething man who left both the closet and his old life in San Sebastian behind for the more hedonistic charms of the gay-friendly Maspalomas resort on Gran Canaria. A split with his long-term partner has put him back on the market, and he’s shown to be embracing his new lease of life – shot with sun-drenched and neon verve by Javier Agirre – with hooks up in the dunes or nightclubs, until he’s stopped dead in his tracks.

Well, not quite dead – although when we meet him again in a San Sebastian care home the contrast between his vibrant former self and the frail, greyed-out figure in a wheelchair is striking. Not only does the joy seem to have been drained away, he also retreats back into the closet, something that comes as a surprise to his now adult daughter Nerea (Nagore Aranburu), whose relationship he sacrificed when he embraced his Canaries life.

Arregi and Goenaga are at pains to suggest that no matter what your political or sexual stance, we’re all human underneath. That includes Vincente’s new roommate Xanti (Kandido Uranga, in spirited full-wattage support). He’s as right wing as they come but he also quickly becomes Vincente’s self-appointed life coach, refusing to let him retreat. It’s Vincente who is holding himself back rather than anyone else.

Ramón Soroiz’s performance – which won him a Silver Shell in San Sebastian – is crucial as he allows the contradictions in Vincente to rise and fall. While non-judgemental of him, the film shows how his loneliness is, at least in part, a different sort of closet he has constructed for himself and to which he holds the key. Arregi and Goenaga find light and shade in the situation. There’s a rich vein of humour stemming from Vincente’s outwardly hostile attitude to gay care home worker Iñaki (Kepa Errasti), which is in sharp contrast to his approach to him via a dating app and the ridiculous side of Xanti’s viewpoints is also highlighted.

Nevertheless Maspalomas’ emotions run deep, with the onset of Covid sensitively handled in ways that sharply bring back the uncertainty of those early months of the disease and the devastating impact it had on many older communities. If the film has one or two endings too many, it almost doesn’t matter, since it seems appropriate that a film with such a warm-hearted view of humanity should give everyone a moment in the sun.

Reviewed on: 08 Oct 2025