Cuantica emoción
2013 · 22m · España
Directed by Marta Monedero
Tones: humorous, theatrical
Mateo San Juan, a recognized photographer who after a decade reaping successes in the USA returns to his native Spain to present his work, will not remember on his arrival, however, the crumbs left behind him on his departure, in a not complacent past; the involuntary re-encounter with an old girlfriend and the daring 'help' of his friends will take him to embarrassing situations, in a comedy of entanglements.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
It's a romantic comedy about a photographer returning home—basically the plot everyone's been recycling since the '90s—so unless Monedero does something genuinely perverse with the premise, this feels like exactly the kind of consensus play that puts me to sleep.
Monedero constructs a formally sophisticated comedy of manners rooted in the Spanish theatrical tradition, where the architecture of embarrassment and chance encounter becomes a meditation on memory and artistic ego—the kind of structurally aware rom-com that rewards close viewing.
The real craft move here is how Monedero lets the supporting characters—the friends orchestrating chaos—become the engine of the piece rather than mere obstacles, which shifts the entire emotional weight in a way that suggests a filmmaker making deliberate, economic choices with ensemble dynamics.