Fantasia

REVIEW

Filmmaker Aitor Merino frequently films his family. His parents Kontxi and Iñaki, his sister Amaia and, also, himself. With a camera in his hand, he records snapshots of life around him, makes notes of a fragile diary that flies between improvisation and casualness, from arguments to humor, and vice versa. Wisps of fresh air from everyday life that convey the intensity of the people around him. Aitor’s family is direct, open, and if necessary, stark naked. A family of smiles and tears, of emotions on the surface, of a constant and fiery enthusiasm only comparable to his sincerity.

The director convinces his relatives to create a choral portrait. The four of them embark on a film and on a tourist ship, the name of which gives the film its title. On this trip the inheritances of the past emerge, the always complex relationships of the present, the looming future: old age, memory, death. Merino offers a documentary, a drama and a comedy all at the same time. A moving journey that runs through the journey of life, a Chaplinesque story without papier-mâché decorations, of souls who live passionately and, through them, make us feel at every moment that we are very much alive.

Miquel Martí Freixas
MajorDocs Programming Team