Balancing a barrage of unruly feelings with an air of philosophical wisdom, Spanish director Lino Escalera’s feature debut, winner of four awards at this year’s Málaga Film Festival, is an emotionally searing portrait of familial strife.

José Luis (Juan Diego) is dying. His daughter Carla (Nathalie Poza), a bored executive who self-medicates with booze, cocaine and male attention, insists her father keep fighting the grim reaper. His daughter Blanca (Lola Dueñas), an aspiring actress, is willing to submit José Luis to palliative care and let him go gently into that good night. These conflicting attitudes lay bare the sisters’ divergent coping mechanisms and teach them a great deal about their own fraught lives.

Watch this intense, smart, tender drama—and you might learn something too. –Jaie Laplante

2017 MÁLAGA SPANISH FILM FESTIVAL:
SILVER BIZNAGA
SPECIAL JURY AWARD, BEST SCREENPLAY, BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR, BEST ACTRESS