Boomerang
2019 · 8m · España
Directed by Jaime Gómez
Tones: contemplative, melancholic, tender
In Madrid, two ex-lovers meet again after some time; at first the conversation is cold and distant, but as it evolves they show themselves as they truly are, and something happens that gives Elsa back the hope she had lost in her life.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Two exes talking in a room—sounds like every Linklater knockoff ever made, except Gómez somehow threads the needle between maudlin and genuine without winking at the audience, which is harder than it looks and rarer than it should be.
A deceptively simple chamber piece that recalls the restraint of early Haneke and the emotional precision of Koreeda; the film's formal discipline—its refusal to manipulate through music or coverage—marks it as work aware of what sentiment demands of cinema.
The whole film turns on a single behavioral shift: watch how Elsa's shoulders drop in the second half, one micro-gesture that reframes everything we thought we understood about her distance, and suddenly eight minutes of two people talking becomes necessary.