Romeria [NYFF 2025]
Studio: Janus Movies
Director: Carla Simón
Oct 06, 2025
Carla Simón’s Romería is a poignant, heartfelt have a look at a younger girl coming to phrases with who her mother and father had been. Though it could be a bit uneven, the story’s deeply private nature and a few fascinating filmmaking decisions are sufficient to set it above the bar.
Set in Spain in 2004, Romería follows Marina (Llúcia Garcia), an orphan and up to date highschool graduate who wants somebody in her organic household’s signature to obtain college scholarships, as her organic father by no means publicly registered her as his daughter. Her quest takes her to Galicia, the place she spends the summer season along with her cousin and grandparents. As we spend extra time with Marina, seeing the world and this difficult household via her perspective, we additionally be taught extra concerning the circumstances that led to her being orphaned.
Romería is considerate and poignant, although it takes a reasonably very long time for the movie’s story to search out its footing. The primary half is extra procedural and easy. As we watch Marina work together with totally different branches of her organic household, usually on separate days, we slowly be taught extra concerning the household’s complexities, in addition to Marina’s relationship with every member.
Whereas these sequences are pretty lengthy (and the movie unfurls a bit too slowly general), Simón’s framing choices are persistently sensible and nuanced. One of many movie’s most memorable sequences is when (nearly) the complete household comes collectively at Marina’s grandparents’ home. In the course of the sequence, Simón cuts between crowded frames, which regularly embody all of her cousins or her aunts and uncles, and comparatively empty ones, usually that includes simply Marina. This visually echoes the ideological and ethical fracture between her and the remainder of her household in a poignant method, giving the movie a deeper resonance when it wants it most.
The movie’s second half is extra dreamlike, as Simón’s perspective shifts to the backstory of Marina’s mother and father. That is by far the spotlight of the movie; the story is enveloping from the second it begins and way more compelling than something within the movie’s first half (even when that half could also be extra immediately associated to the primary narrative). The story of Marina’s mother and father nearly feels just like the one Simón desires to inform extra; it’s evident within the tender type with which she captures their stunning and tragic love. Sadly, on condition that it’s not the central topic of the movie, this secondary plotline will get a bit misplaced within the shuffle—too stylistically and tonally distinct to completely sync with the bigger story, however far too distinctive and exquisite to be forgotten.
The sum of those two elements makes Romería a bit uneven. What binds them, although, is the inherent sense of character infused into each tales. The movie’s elegant messiness solely confirms it: You may really feel how private this story is for Simón, and due to it, you’re feeling an much more pronounced affinity with Marina. In the long run, her journey feels particular, relatable, and effectively thought out, making it simpler to look previous the movie’s shortcomings.
Creator score: 6/10
