From acclaimed director Carla Simón, Romería centers on a young woman with filmmaking aspirations named Marina (Llúcia Garcia) who needs proof of her parents’ identities in order to attend college.
She embarks on a journey to the place where her parents lived in the 1980’s/1990’s and, through written diary entries, vicariously finds more than just herself in the interim.
Set in Galicia, Spain, Romería is a beautiful cinematic gift with Marina exploring the nearby waters over the course of the film and visiting neighboring places to where she is staying. Marina’s uncle, Lois (Tristán Ulloa), helps make achieving her goals possible.
One of Marina’s cousins (Mitch Martin) plays a large part in the action. That’s because both Martin and Garcia become stand-ins and also play the long-lost parents who Marina has never had the opportunity to truly think about before now.
Romería is a beautifully rendered story about a family that comes together after the death of the parents in order to secure a new future for Marina. Through imagined memories and old writings, Marina is able to understand her parents’ passions and real-life difficulties and hardships.
Marina’s parents have died from AIDS and used heroin frequently. This film doesn’t hide any of the sadness regarding the lives of the parents. No matter how much they lived dangerously and freely, there were also wonderful moments for the parents alongside the harsher ones piled upon them by the reality of their situation.
This film is powerful. Marina has cinematic ambitions and brings with her a camcorder as the movie is set in the mid-2000’s. She has a keen eye for detail and sees in the surrounding areas a landscape that can help shape her future as well as define it.
Romería is driven by the performance of Llúcia Garcia. The camera adores her, and she is deeply in tune with this role. The movie becomes her character’s story so strongly that everyone else around her sort of evaporates into the background. Mitch Martin holds his own, but is more a catalyst to tell this tale than anything else.
Alberto Gracia serves as another uncle who needs a bit of financial assistance from Marina at one point in the film. This film is at its best when it zeroes in on Marina’s imagination and, also, her acceptance of the harsh reality of her parents’ demise.
Romeria is a character study above all else. Marina is fully realized by the actress, Garcia, who provides a truly rich and distinct characterization with her mannerisms and heartfelt sincerity. She brings, perhaps, more to the complicated role than what was on the page of the screenplay.
One of the movie’s most imaginative sequences comes when there is a dance-off between people in the 1980s section of the film.
There are certain parallels to Michael Jackson’s Thriller in those movements that come across as unique as much as they are in sync with some of the Thriller dance moves. This scene ends with all the characters wearing sheets as they are now ghosts, for better or worse.
Romeria will certainly haunt audiences with its creative imagery. This film takes beautiful scenes and then parallels them to more frustrating or disturbing ones that help define Marina as well as her parents.
There are a few minor flaws in terms of the pacing of the movie, which is set over several chapters that reveal title cards at their outset that hint at what is to come. Those inconsistencies in the pacing serve a purpose as they display the unpredictability of living a life that has many unforeseen ups and downs.
This film hits hard with its message of overcoming the loss of one’s parents and accepting the grief of never meeting them. Marina is brave, fierce, and determined, and that makes her character one of the most effective ones you’ll see in a movie this summer, art house or otherwise.
By the film’s end, Marina has discovered a newfound respect for life. While her parents were unfairly taken from her, Marina now has the wisdom to live her own life and make her very own mistakes, for better or worse.
Romería is a devastatingly beautiful work of art and is absolutely unforgettable in its excesses.
Romería is now playing in theaters.
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Thomas Duffy
Thomas Duffy is a Critics Choice member who has written film reviews for most of his life, starting at age 11 when he crafted his first full length movie critique on the film, "Roxanne," a Cyrano story featuring Steve Martin. As a result of that review and other movie obsessive writing, Thomas was awarded a creative writing award in sixth grade. Thomas is the proud author of nine books, including two highly acclaimed novels, "To Never Know" and "Social Work." Thomas can be found on X (formerly known as Twitter) or at a New York City movie theater watching the latest hit or independent movie. You can also run into him at Tribeca or at the New York Film Festival.