2023 Show
Fernando Navarro & Tomás Peña · Spain · Spanish
An atmospheric horror mystery that forgets to provide a reason to follow the breadcrumbs
While Romancero’s story certainly promises to grow deeper over the course of its six-episode run, the first two episodes that were watched for this review don’t provide much reason to get invested. The series clings to the original appeal of binge-able streaming—it practically demands we watch it all in one sitting—but it also forgets to fulfill the episodic demands of television: that every installment communicate something coherent or at least add something to the whole. And while Romancero does have a persistent eeriness about it, even its horror elements don’t create enough intrigue or a sense of danger (at least in these first episodes).
The show’s decision to throw viewers directly into the action in medias res—no explanations, no initial character establishment—is exciting at first, but quickly saps the narrative of suspense. Similar to the two kids who are shown running from a horde of people in the night in the first episode, Romancero at first doesn’t seem like it’s heading towards anything in particular. It’s a real case of either you’re in or you’re out, and for this writer, the show’s opening moves aren’t enough.
Jordán and Cornelia are two young kids who, in the dead of night, are trying to escape the angry mob accusing them of murder. Fearing for their lives, they flee from the law, from the supernatural and even from themselves.
A supernatural mystery unravels as two kids run from their pursuers in the dead of night.
Despite its story leaving much to be desired, it's genuinely impressive how beautiful and how cinematic everything here looks, even if we aren't really given any key images around which the drama can anchor itself. The rural corner of Spain where this narrative takes place feels perpetually sparsely populated, almost as if in a western movie. Its shadows are cold and deep, and the little bit of gore we already get in the first two episodes is as messy and unglamorous as it needs to be. This alone may be enough to hook some viewers, so if that's your thing, you could still give this a shot.
Freaky things happen to people I don't know for reasons I can't understand—it do be like that sometimes.
Emil Hofileña is a curator at A Good Movie to Watch. He also writes as a theater critic, with work published in Rogue and Out of Print, among others. He’s probably crying over a movie or an episode as we speak.
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