‘Andrea’s love’

Director: Manuel Martín Cuenca

Performers: Lupe Mateo Barredo, Fidel Sierra, Cayetano Rodríguez

Premiere: November 24, 2023

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There is films that work, among other things, because they reveal to the world a new face that fits the character played like a glove. ‘The 400 Blows’ would not be the same without the boy Jean-Pierre Léaud. Neither does ‘The Spirit of the Hive’ without the excited look of the girl Ana Torrent, or ‘A Woman is a Woman’ without the luminous presence of Anna Karina. The same thing happens with ‘Andrea’s Love’: without its adolescent and debutant protagonist, Lupe Mateo Barredo, Manuel Martín Cuenca’s film would be different. It is a young, inexperienced face that expresses so many things with a mix of innocence and a hint of maturity. It fills the screen and, with this, the deficiencies are minimized and the successes are highlighted. And it allows its director (‘Caníbal’, ‘The Author’, ‘The Daughter’) to vary his register considerably.

‘Andrea’s love’ is a learning film: a Teen He must take care of his little brothers, deal with his mother and look for his father. She wants to know him, and she wants him to take responsibility for her. Andrea, Lupe, does not understand why her father abandoned her and literally passed on to her and her siblings. And his particular odyssey, worthy of Homer’s even though it is on a small scale and in the streets of Cádiz, is an obstacle course, since he does not understand his mother either and discovers the selfishness of others pitted against his desire for truth and, simply , some tenderness.