Railroad Crossing (Pas a nivell)

Marc (Marc Homs) has graduated from university but isn't sure what he wants to do next and so makes the temporary decision to move in with his grandmother and take on a casual summer job renting out jet skis on the Costa Brava. But his grandmother's health shows signs of deterioration and this gradually impacts on his improvised plans in ways that prove increasingly disorientating to the languid Marc.

Pere Vilà's debut feature offers a quirky take on adolescent aimlessness that avoids easy clichés in interrogating the trials and tribulations that come with changing social and personal circumstances. Vilà's camera is rarely intrusive, rather functioning as a detached observer catching Marc and his family at work and at play. The film's eye for detail proves revelatory in charting a sense of the protagonist's shifting moods and emotions. Similarly it is a portrait of a landscape all too habitually seen through the iconography of mass tourism. The result is an impressively understated film distinguished by refreshingly low-key performances and an assured visual aesthetic.
Maria Delgado