World-premiered in the Official Competition of this year’s Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, The Dashed Lines, directed by Anxos Fazáns, who co-wrote the script together with Ian de la Rosa, is sure to pique some interest, starting from its main plot threads, which mix the topics of divorce, gender identity, love of music, and the search for meaning and connection.

Bea (Mara Sánchez) is a 50-year-old woman going through a divorce, whose house gets broken into one night by a group of young people. Among them, by accident, is Denís (Adam Prieto), a 28-year-old trans man struggling with job insecurity. He falls asleep during the party instigated by the intruders and is found by the woman upon her return. The two eventually find out that they both have a strong passion for music, and Denís, who is trying to make a career out of it, ends up spending more time than expected with the woman, since her work happens to revolve around music.

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In The Dashed Lines, Fazáns doesn’t need to go too far with her technical choices, not because of a lack of skill, but simply because those elements are not what drives such a film. It would be pointless to set up a grand moment of realisation in a story that relies on delicacy, intimacy, and closeness to bodies and souls. While shooting the key scenes, the director clearly knew that getting the actors to perform to the best of their ability was key to achieving a believable result. What is interesting is that Prieto is a first-time actor, while Sánchez is a well-known face on Galician TV. However, the pair function perfectly well on screen together, and most of this is an obvious result of skilled direction.

While the two leads are one of the main reasons for the successful end result, the well-calibrated camera movements are what defines the tone of the narrative. Shots often linger on their expressions to ensure we get a full understanding of their emotions, especially when things are left unsaid. The original music by Xavier Bertolo also helps create this sense of an enclosed space where the audience becomes one with the newly formed “odd” couple. All of the songs in the movie are also by Galician composers and artists, as the feature overall takes a great deal of pride in its origin and is spoken in the Galician language as well.

This second feature by Fazáns is a prime example of a heart-warming work, one with a solid and original core, which never relinquishes its sense of freshness and sincerity. It’s an easy watch, in the best sense of the term, and is genuine and carefully blended to ensure the right balance is struck in delivering a sense of both sadness and a renewed zest for life. It’s relatively short, and in all honesty, it could have been stretched out slightly more to imbue the characters with a little more depth, especially towards the end. Nonetheless, less is always more, and rarely is the opposite true.

The Dashed Lines is a Spanish production staged by Sétima and Sideral - Elamedia Estudios.