Once a festival fixture, Catalan writer-director Isabel Coixet’s latest presents as a post-Brexit olive branch, reminding us Brits that unspoilt sea, sand and self-improvement is only ever a few rebuilt bridges away. Yet it progresses with such eccentricity it seems unlikely to reverse anybody’s trajectory.
An especially downtrodden Timothy Spall plays Peter, wearied finance drone and keen meteorology buff whose small, palpably lonely life – measured out in nightly ginger snaps – faces redirection after his brother disappears in the Spanish resort of the title. Stranding this cold fish in sunny climes, Coixet is aiming for life-affirming. What follows ends up closer to frown-inducing, with patience-trying just round the corner.
