Calle Málaga

The 74-year-old Maria Angeles leads a quiet existence within the close-knit Spanish community of Tangier, Morocco. Her world gets thrown out of balance when her daughter Clara comes from Madrid with the plan to sell the apartment where Maria has lived her entire life. Determined to stay in the city where she grew up, Maria resists this decision and fights to preserve her home, and the memories associated with it. In addition, she discovers to her own surprise that love and desire know no age. An ode to growing old without feeling old, and the perfect film to let Carmen Maura, a Spanish star with a career of six decades, shine. This first Spanish-language film by the Moroccan filmmaker Maryam Touzani (‘Le bleu du caftan’) premiered at the Venice Film Festival and won the audience award there. Why this was an instant crowd favorite is not hard to figure out. The film is brisk, playful, funny, and sensitive, engagingly undermines every stereotype about elderly people in film, and is laden with a wonderfully sunny, summer atmosphere. Spanish cinema at its best. An ode to stubborn zest for life and to the art of reclaiming your place in the world anew at any age. Fast Forward Film A small but fine feel-good film that makes you crave tapas, dried dates, and Spanish custard. Humo