The Wishful Thinkers

(Los Ilusos)

Jonás Trueba / Spain / 2013 / 93 min
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Spanish with English subtitles

With Francesco Carril, Aura Garrido, Mikele Urroz, Vito Sanz, lsabelle Stoffel, Luis Miguel Madrid

This is the life of dreamy filmmaker Leon, in between shooting a film and his next project – a sort of limbo with an endless postponing of things, some low-key frustration, lover’s quarrels, conversations, coffees, drunkenness, classes, concerts, and walks… But all those things are held on standby, with the particular tempo that days usually have when you simply let them pass by and the important things are yet to come.

The Wishful Thinkers is – as we’re told in its first frames – an intermission film. But apart from that, it also works as a treatise about the fine art of wandering around a big city like Madrid (portrayed in captivating black and white by Santiago Racaj) and about bohemian life, youth, and friendship. Following Every Song Is About Me, Jonás Trueba delivers here a sudden, dazzling and mature film, proving he knows the secret of filming the present, with such a powerful nostalgic drive that can instantly transform it into memories we assume as our own.

About the Director
Jonás Trueba (Madrid, 1981) was co-writer of the films Más pena que Gloria (2000) and Vete de mí (2005), both directed by Víctor García León, and El baile de la Victoria (2009) by Fernando Trueba. Todas las canciones hablan de mí [Every Song is About me] (2010) was his first film as a director. He also directed Miniaturas (2011), and some video clips.

He has worked sporadically as a film book editor and collaborates in different media. His first novel Las ilusiones (Periférica publisher, 2013) is closely intertwined with Los ilusos (The Wishful Thinkers, 2013), his last feature film up to date.

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