The opening scene: three women, dressed to the nines, stuck in a gaol cell, arguing about who to call and what to do. Then two of them remove their wigs to show the guard that they are having treatment for cancer. And so we go back to find out how this journey began.
Writer and director Álvaro Díaz Lorenzo has taken a well-worn trope-the (possibly) terminally sick, taking a trip to fulfil all the items on their list-and refreshed it with both humour and heart.
Three powerhouse Spanish actors star as the friends. Eva is played by María León, Mar by Silvia Alonso and the great Victoria Abril stars as Carmen. The storyline is simple: with Eva and Carmen going through chemotherapy for breast cancer, just before they get the results of their latest treatment, they decide to take off, along with friend Mar, in a motorhome, with their wish-lists written up on a blackboard.
Wishlist gets the balance just right. Here is great humour, compassion, and a unsentimental, yet not too confronting, portrait of breast cancer and its treatment. Yet despite its obvious “subject matter”, at its core, this is a work about female friendship at its most raw, honest, warm and hilarious. In that way it is not dissimilar to the classic Thelma and Louise, although the girls don’t commit quite the level of crime as the eponymous Louise!
This is a thoroughly enjoyable, intelligent, and uplifting film.
And a percentage of the proceeds are going to breast cancer research.
Wishlist will be showing as part of the Moro Spanish Film Festival at Palace Nova Eastend and Prospect from April 27th
Click here for screening times.
utterly delightful and intelligent 4 stars
More News
