When Ocho (Juan Barberini), an Argentine poet on holiday in Barcelona, spots Javi (Ramón Pujol) from the balcony of his apartment, it sparks fantasies of a holiday romance. After fruitlessly searching dating apps for him, the couple have a second missed connection, spotting each other across a Spanish beach. When Javi sees Ocho from his balcony a second time, he knows he can’t let him slip through his fingers again. A tentative “kiss” from the balcony leads to a lust-filled, passionate hook up. What seems like a one-time encounter between two strangers becomes an epic, decades-spanning relationship, in which time and space refuse to play by the rules. In one of the best feature debuts, Lucio Castro’s ‘End Of The Century’ bends perception of time whilst exposing raw human connection, breaking the traditional rules of the love story.
★★★★ “Explores the idea of roads not taken with emotional deftness” - Hannah Flint, Time Out
★★★★★ “A glinting jewel of an existential romance, whose more linear twin might be Andrew Haigh’s Weekend” - Robbie Collin, The Telegraph
