Guapa
2021 · 13m · España
Directed by Lina Frank
Genres: coming-of-age, drama, romance
Tones: contemplative, sensual, tender
Matilda is a teenager newly arrived in Barcelona. While she is encouraged to discover the city and start a new life, Matilda resists the change until she meets her cousin Adriá; thanks to this encounter, she begins to explore her sensuality and self-confidence.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
It's a coming-of-age romance that could've been a thousand other films, except Frank refuses to make the awakening feel triumphant—there's real uncertainty threaded through every sensual moment, which is genuinely rare and quietly subversive.
A tender portrait of self-discovery that locates itself squarely in the European art-house tradition; the contemplative pacing and sensory specificity of Barcelona's geography as mirror for internal transformation recalls a lineage from Varda to Sciamma.
The genius move is how Frank uses Barcelona's architecture and light not as backdrop but as a character in Matilda's emotional choreography—it's the spatial decision, the way a doorway or staircase becomes the site of confidence, that transforms a modest premise into something indelible.