Macarena
2014 · 10m · España
Directed by Nani Roig
Genres: coming-of-age, drama, romance
Tones: contemplative, melancholic, tender
Macarena, about to turn thirty and terrified of ending up alone in her routine, impulsively asks out Alberto, a new customer at the supermarket where she works, risking her stability for a man who seems to meet all her expectations, unlike her contented coworker Pepe.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Everyone expects a coming-of-age romance about a woman choosing between safety and risk—Roig delivers exactly that, which is fine, but it's also exactly what you'd predict, and the film seems content to live inside that predictability rather than interrogate it.
A tender, formally assured portrait of everyday hesitation; Roig's observational patience with supermarket routine and glances recalls the European humanist tradition, though the emotional stakes remain deliberately modest, almost deliberately un-dramatic.
The film's entire architecture rests on a single recurring visual choice—the way Macarena's gaze lingers on Alberto across the checkout counter—and Roig commits to that restraint so completely that by the final scene, that look carries the full weight of her internal rupture.