CALLE MALAGA Reviewed by GREG KING
Director: Maryam Touzani
Stars: Carmen Maura, Marta Etura, Ahmed Boulane, Maria Alfonsa Rosso, Ghali Errazqi, Miguel Garces,
This is another bittersweet but charming and feel-good drama about an elderly woman asserting her independence and rediscovering her sexuality and love at a late stage of her life.
Seventy-nine-year-old Maria Angeles (played by Carmen Maura) has lived in the Spanish Quarter of Tangier her whole life. She lives in an apartment that she shared with her late husband and in which she raised her daughter Clara. Maria has a well-established routine which involves her shopping and interacting with the local shopkeepers and market vendors plying their trade in the streets, visiting the cemetery and even visiting her childhood friend Josefa (Maria Alfonso Rosso), a nun who has taken a vow of silence but who patiently listens to her tales of daily life and challenges.
But then Clara (Marta Etura, from Cell 211, etc) arrives from Madrid for a visit. Recently divorced and struggling financially she announces that she plans to sell the apartment and the furniture. Clara urges Maria to come and live with her in Spain, but Maria is reluctant to leave the city she calls home. As a compromise Clara places her in a nearby residential care centre. Maria finds it too structured for her liking and sneaks back into the now empty apartment.
She slowly begins to but back her furniture from second hand dealer Abslam (Ahmed Boulane, from The Return Of The Son, etc), and a lovely friendship develops between the two. Maria develops a strong chemistry with Abslam. Maria also hosts soccer viewing parties in her apartment.
Veteran Spanish actor Maura, a favourite of Almodovar, has a strong and warm presence and delivers a nicely nuanced and sympathetic performance as the feisty, resilient and determined Maria. Bourlane is also very good and sympathetic as Abslam. And there is a wonderful supporting cast of colourful and quirky characters who populate the neighbourhood.
Calle Malaga (the title comes from the street on which Maria lives) is a heartwarming and bittersweet film that explores complicated mother/daughter relationships and celebrates the elderly and community. The film is directed by Moroccan born filmmaker Maryam Touzani (the 2022 drama The Blue Caftan, etc), and her direction is unhurried and gentle. She cowrote the insightful script with her husband, fellow filmmaker Nabil Ayouch.
The film looks good thanks to the gorgeous cinematography of regular collaborator Virginie Surdej, and she gives us some great images and captures Tangier and its sunny, bright streetscapes, giving us a strong sense of place. The city itself becomes a character in the drama. Eve Martin’s production design is also very good.
★★★☆
