Azar
2013 · 19m · España
Directed by Diego Sanchidrián Rubio
Tones: contemplative, whimsical
Félix finds a coin walking down the street and decides to gamble it on the slot machines; this is how he meets a mysterious woman, and both agree to let luck decide if there is a future for them in which to be together or, on the contrary, it has some other uncertain destiny in store for them.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
A romance built on chance and fatalism sounds like the setup for something precious, but Sanchidrián actually commits to the bit—letting randomness (not sentiment) drive character, which is refreshingly perverse for a love story.
The film locates itself thoughtfully within the lineage of romantic cinema that distrusts narrative certainty; its formal restraint in refusing to resolve the lovers' gamble mirrors the classical modernism of Bresson or early Rohmer.
The decision to let a coin flip structure the entire emotional architecture of two people's relationship—and then to shoot that decision without irony—is the kind of formal clarity that transforms a modest premise into something genuinely unsettling and alive.