Veteran Spanish director Fernando Trueba ( , , ) delivers a noir homage with tarring Matt Dillon as a man with a troubled past who gets involved in a dangerous romance with a younger Spanish woman on a paradisiacal Greek island. Shot at the end of 2022, is always watchable but very conventional, never providing anything new or unexpected. Co-star Aida Folch, reuniting with Trueba after 2012’s will help draw local audiences on general release in Spain from August 23, after the film opens the Atlantida Mallorca Film Festival in July.
It’s an interesting turn from Dillon, too, after his recent appearance as Marlon Brando in Jessica Palud’s Cannes title not to mention his 2020 directorial debut, the Cuban jazz doc Needless to say, the director of finds some common jazz ground to harmonize with Dillon’s character here. He’s glossed up from recent roles as Max, the grumpy but attractive owner of a restaurant where Alex (Folch) turns up a week late to start a new summer job. Early scenes go old-style slapstick as Alex struggles with the lingo and is knocked over by a swing door.
Nobody seems to know much about Max, but Alex is clearly attracted to him even as he keeps a frustrating distance. “That’s a story for another day”, he tells Alex more than once after she probes him for information. Their developing cat-and-mouse relationship is nicely captured and before too long, Max and Alex are an uncertain item, much to the chagrin of good-hearted, skirt-chasing Chico (C.