(2026, 100 min)
Country: Spain
Director: Gerard Oms
Studio: Dekkoo/TLA Releasing
Language: Spanish/subtitles
SYNOPSIS: A gripping psychological drama, Away follows Sergio, a thirty-something Spaniard who travels to Utrecht with his family and friends to cheer on his beloved soccer team. After suffering a severe, life-altering panic attack in the stadium, he makes the sudden, desperate decision to abandon his flight back to Barcelona and cut off all contact with his past life. Stranded and alone in the Netherlands against the gritty backdrop of the 2008 economic crisis, Sergio must navigate an unwelcoming, hostile environment rife with precariousness, classism and racism. As he struggles to survive as an outcast, he enters into a profound inner journey of self-discovery, learning to reconcile with his sexuality, accept his internal contradictions and finally become the man he's meant to be.
REVIEW:
An acceptable but uneven drama that draws on the best traditions of European social cinema to portray immigration, the search for identity, and healing within oneself and one's surroundings. Dealing with Sergio (Mario Casas) travels to Utrecht with his family to attend a football match. Before taking the return flight to Barcelona, he suffers a panic attack and decides to stay in Holland. Unable to provide a logical explanation to those close to him, he cuts off contact with his past. From that moment on, he stays in Utrecht, cutting off all contact with his past. Sergio will have to survive without money, a home, and without speaking the language. Fortunately, he finds another Spanish man, Manel (David Verdaguer), with whom he forms a pleasant friendship.
Nominated for two Goya Awards: Best New Director and Best Actor for Mario Casas, playing an intolerant man who, after attending a football match in Utrecht with his friends, decides to stay in the Dutch city without explaining himself to anyone. Considered by many critics to be his best work to date, it also won the Jury Prize, the Critics' Prize, and Best Actor at the 2024 Malaga Film Festival.
The film focuses on the difficulties of living as a foreigner without resources . The protagonist suffers all of this, and the viewer sadly witnesses it. The result is not remarkable. Mario Casas's performance is powerful but not outstanding due to the constant moodiness, harshness, and ultimately resulting in a markedly unlikeable character. And Oms's way of narrating this story is honest, although very slow and boring, showing a far from pleasant reality, doing so with rudeness, and although there is verisimilitude in the settings he moves through, they are usually quite ugly and depressing.
Mario Casas delivers one of his best performances in 'Far Away'. Mario Casas can already be considered a veteran and sufficiently experienced actor, whose career spans both film and television, as Carne de Neon (2010), El Barco (2011-2013), Mi Gran Noche (2015), El Bar (2017), Adiós (2019), Cross the line (2020), Los Hombres de Paco (2021), Escape (2024), The Goldsmith's Secret (2025) and many others.
An example of today's European social cinema, punctuated by moments of high emotional intensity. Despite being a debut film, the director Gerard Oms demonstrates considerable professionalism in its execution, but ultimately the result is not entirely powerful.
Review by Ma-Cortes,IMDB Featured Critic (https://www.imdb.com/user)
